All Things End: Volume I
by Couragefan09
Summary: Upon finding out that he's going to be put down because of an illness, Courage embarks on a strange journey that just might save his life. Computer gets dragged along for the ride as he is the only one who can help save him and thus takes control of the body of another dog. If they can ever stop bickering long enough, they may eventually become friends on their journey.
1. Until The End Comes

A/N: If this is your first time reading this story I just want to make it known that I'm currently in the middle of revising many of the older chapters. My writing has improved quite a bit since I first started this story in 2010 and I want it to be up to snuff with the rest of it. Unfortunately with such a giant story like this one, things are going rather slowly right now. If you notice a drop in quality while reading this it's probably because you're reading one of the older chapters that hasn't been fixed up yet.

All Things End

By: Couragefan09

Chapter One: Until The End Comes

Courage whined softy as he trudged up the creaky staircase onto the second floor of the house. An air of depression hung over him, which was fairly unusual for the tiny dog. His ears were drooped like a puppy who had just been scolded and he kept himself on all fours as he could not will himself to walk upright in his current state. He needed answers and he knew that there was only one person who could give him those answers.

He whined again. Ever since that visit to the veterinarian three days ago, Muriel had been acting strangely. She'd been avoiding him and wouldn't even talk to him whenever he tried to cheer her up. He'd been completely devastated when she wouldn't let him lay on her lap anymore and she always seemed like she was on the verge of crying now. Even Eustace seemed a bit off lately as the cranky old farmer wasn't calling him a stupid dog anymore.

He pushed the attic door open and went over to the desk where his computer sat. He pulled himself up into the chair and felt his stomach lurch at how much effort it had taken him just to get up there. For months now he had been lacking the energy to do much of anything anymore. It was one of the many things that had left him worried ever since the veterinarian visit.

He flicked the switch on the side of the computer and waited. He was expecting the usual sort of greeting from the machine and he was not looking forward to it. Sighing listlessly, he allowed himself to sink deeper into the wooden chair, both out of fear and anticipation.

The screen of the computer flickered to life, displaying a bluish-green backdrop. There was a moments pause before an exaggerated sigh, originating from the machine's speakers, echoed through the empty attic.

"What is it now, you twit?" A bored voice asked, clearly coming from the computer. It spoke with an intelligent, if somewhat rude tone, and while it's voice was male, it was tinged with a slightly metallic tone that gave away the fact that it was not a real person talking.

Courage let his paws rest on the keyboard, unsure of where to begin. He was afraid that he wouldn't make sense if he rushed and the last thing he needed right now was Computer complaining about that too. He weakly sighed and tried to pull his thoughts together. He wasn't looking forward to this by any stretch of the imagination.

"Well?" The machine impatiently asked. It's words typed out across the screen as it talked.

Courage was used to 'his' usual antics, but this time he didn't bother acknowledging his impatience like he normally did. Under normal circumstances, they argued, a _lot_. Computer always seemed to have _something_ to be annoyed about and Courage always hated listening to him complain. They almost always fought and Computer _always_ won.

Courage began typing, slowly, to make sure that he was spelling out as many of his words as correctly as possible. His writing skills were not the best, he could read just fine but he found typing and writing to be very difficult, especially when he were in a panic, which was almost every time he was using his computer. He wasn't very good at speaking English either. Whenever he panicked, his language usually turned into a gibbering mess of broken English and dog speak. Computer himself had gotten pretty good at understanding his gibberish, but he never missed an opportunity to mock him about it.

_'Something's been wrong with me lately.' _He typed, hesitating for a moment. Computer did not respond to the statement so he continued. '_Something inside of me hurts. It starts in my chest and then it spreads out all over. The pain eventually gets so bad that I can barely move and I usually black out afterwords. When I wake up, I feel weak and tired and it takes hours to get better. It wasn't so bad at first because it would only happen every once in awhile, but now it happens all the time, sometimes even twice a day. I'm tired all the time now too.' _He stopped.

He left his fingers trembling on the keys. He was terrified at what could possibly be happening to him. Those mysterious seizure like pains had always frightened him but now they were getting worse and he couldn't do anything to stop them. He couldn't forget about how strange Muriel and Eustace were acting either. When this had first started, he had tried to act normal around them, but they had noticed anyway. Heck, he had once even tried to hide himself in a closet when he felt an 'attack' coming on, but they had found him in the middle of the seizure anyway. They had taken him to the vet to get him checked out and now they were suddenly acting like he didn't exist at all. He was starting to wonder if he had done something wrong to make them treat him like this, but he couldn't help it if he were sick.

_'I could barely even get up here without needing to take a break.' _He continued._ 'Muriel noticed how tired I've been and took me to see the vet. He looked me over and they talked about something, I wasn't really sure what. Muriel's been avoiding me ever since and she seems so sad now. I don't want to make her sad, but I'm not really sure what I did wrong.' _He added that last part solely out of the fear that maybe he really _had_ done something wrong. He knew it sounded pathetic, especially to someone like Computer, but he couldn't help it.

There was a long silence as his rude companion did his job. The words he had typed out still lingered on the screen. He stared intently into them, hoping that maybe he could finally get the answers he were searching for. He couldn't help but worry, it wasn't like Computer to remain this quiet.

Just as he was about to ask what was taking so long, the machine uttered out a small, "Oh, dear."

"What?" Courage asked out loud, not bothering to type it in this time. His heart lurched with dread.

"Well, from the sound of it, it looks like you have a very rare and very serious condition. It's only found in dogs and it's-" The machine hesitated.

"What?" Courage asked again, dreading whatever was about to be said. "I-Is it bad?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, there is no cure. The condition is...always fatal." There was a slight hint of awe in that cynical machine's voice.

"W-What?" Courage gasped. His mind shut down completely. The true implications of what he had been told didn't hit him until several seconds later.

Always fatal? He was going to...die? How could that be? How could he be sick enough to die? He wasn't supposed to die! Not before Muriel!

"That can't be right! I-it can't be!" He gasped. His entire body was shivering of its own accord. Fear washed over him as his own mortality became apparent. He was going to die...

Computer continued, ignoring Courage's fearful trembling. "There is a treatment for the illness, but it really only delays the inevitable. It helps with the symptoms, but it only keeps a dog affected by the illness alive for about an extra year or so, and that is only under the best of circumstances. It's very expensive too, nothing an old, retired couple would be able to afford."

Courage was shaking with terror. Disbelief wracked his brain. Could nothing really save him? He began to type again in a frenzy, _'But Eustace is always stashing money away! He can't be that heartless! Why won't he help me!'_

"Calm down, twit!" The machine replied. He were speaking as though this were business as usual and it only helped to infuriate Courage even further.

_'How can you tell me to calm down? I'm about to die! Now isn't the time to be calm!'_ He furiously typed in. He was sure that he had missed a couple of keys but he was shaking so hard that it didn't matter either way.

"Because you're mowing in my keys, idiot!" Computer angrily replied. "Look, dog. Nothing that farmer is hoarding would be enough to help you. When I say expensive, I mean that you could buy a mansion with that kind of money. The treatment is only for quality bred dogs with exceptionally wealthy owners, and even then they're still doomed in the end."

Courage whined, unsure of what to do. He place a paw on his chest and wondered when the next attack would occur. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to die from that sort of pain. He whined again as panic began to build up inside of him. It was more powerful than ever and he didn't know what to do about it. He wanted to run, scream, cry, but none of that would help him in the end.

"I feel for you, dog, I really do, but there isn't much that can be done. Muriel must be avoiding you because she knows that she can't help you."

Silence filled the gloomy attic. Neither machine nor dog knew what else to say. Courage squeezed his eyes shut. So many emotions rolled through him and he couldn't stop even one of them. If only he could-

Wait...

He perked up, realizing that he had forgotten something when he had told Computer about his illness. He began to type again with renewed vigor. _'While I was at the vet, he said something about putting me to sleep. I'm not really sure what that is, but does it mean he's going to put me to sleep and try to perform surgery on me? Maybe he's going to try and fix me!'_ He smiled at that thought. Maybe he could be saved after all!

"Oh, dear, well." Computer spoke. He seemed to be at a loss for words. Once again he had slipped out of his business as usual tone for only just a moment. He hesitated, acting as though it were better to leave whatever he was about to say left unsaid. "Don't you know what being 'put to sleep' means?" He asked, choosing his words very carefully.

Courage shook his head. The hesitation in the machine's voice made him lurch with fear yet again. "Is it something bad?" He asked rather weakly.

The machine sighed, obviously not wanting to deal with this. He waited for a moment and began to speak once more. "I won't lie to you, it's best you know. Putting you to sleep is the kid friendly term for putting you down. They're going to kill you."

Courage's jaw hit the ground.

"It's a mercy killing, of course. It's so that you won't suffer needlessly, especially in the late stages of the disease. It will be painless, unlike waiting."

Courage remained silent, he didn't even blink. His mind couldn't wrap around the fact that Muriel was going to let some awful vet put him down. She had him scheduled to go back next Friday. Were they planning on doing it then? Had he not gone to Computer, he would have never even known it was coming. He felt...betrayed.

"You still in there, twit?" Computer asked, pulling him out of this thoughts.

He shook his head in disbelief. "H-How could Muriel do this to me? I-I-"

Tears began to fill his eyes. He was angry, sad, scared, and confused all at the same time. He felt as though Muriel had intentionally betrayed him to this fate on purpose. He choked back a sob as several of his tears fell freely onto the keyboard beneath him.

"She just wants what's best for you. She wouldn't want you to suffer in the end." Computer said. He was trying to comfort him, at least as best as any cynical machine could try, but it wasn't working...

"How can she let some stupid vet kill me?" Courage cried out. His voice began to rise with fear. "Doesn't she care about me more then that? I-I don't want to die!" He started to sob.

"Would you rather suffer in the end? I'm sure it's painless. Why do you think they call it 'putting to sleep'? Surely that's preferable to wasting away, painfully, I might add."

"I don't want to die!" He sobbed. "I want to live! I want things to go back to the way they used to be!"

"Twit-" Computer tried to interject. His tone was growing annoyed.

"Why? Why did I have to get sick? I want to nap in Muriel's lap again! I want her to talk to me like she used to! I want to be able to do things without having to worry about having an attack! I want to have my energy back! I-I-"

"Come on, dog. Don't be so-"

"I even want Eustace to scare me again! I just want things to go back to the way they used to be!"

It was almost too awful to think about. He'd never spend another day enjoying life with Muriel. He'd never spend another lazy afternoon snoozing on her lap. Everything he loved about life, he'd lose in death. He'd never see her or Eustace ever again, he'd never save them from monsters again, he'd never sample new recipes that Muriel was developing, he'd never help her with the laundry, cleaning up, cooking, washing, planting. The list went on and on and it only frightened him even more. He couldn't bear the thought of losing the only thing he had ever known. He wasn't supposed to die before them!

"Twit, seriously-" Computer spoke again, still trying to get the panicking dog's attention. It was a minor miracle that his little breakdown hadn't been heard by Muriel or Eustace downstairs yet.

"I-I don't want to die! I don't want to leave Muriel! Why did this have to happen to me?" He buried his face into his paws and sobbed.

"ENOUGH!" Computer finally yelled, cranking up his speakers to full blast. Having never raised his voice in Courage's presence before, it shut the pink dog up instantly.

"Throwing yourself into a panic isn't going to help anyone or anything! Pull yourself together!"

Courage sniffed and nodded. He began wiping tears from his eyes, feeling slightly foolish over his breakdown. He was still very much afraid, but he knew that he shouldn't have panicked like that.

He was still shaking several minutes later. He couldn't calm down knowing what was coming. His chest had begun to burn and he knew that if Computer hadn't stopped him, he probably would have thrown himself into another attack by accident.

_'What should I do?'_ He finally typed.

"I honestly don't know what to tell you, but at least you've calmed down." The machine replied, sounding as if he were at a loss himself. Courage couldn't even remember the last time he hadn't had an answer for him.

_'I-' _He began to type, stopping on the first letter. He reconsidered what he was going to say and let his shaking paws rest on the keyboard.

"What is it, dog?" Computer asked, sounding weary.

Courage sighed and typed, _'I know it's a stupid thing to say, but I'm scared.'_

There was a slight chuckle from the machine. "Anybody in your predicament would be. Believe it or not, I do understand."

_'I don't want some awful vet to stick a needle in me and never wake up again. I-' _He stopped again. He could not hold back his tears anymore and let them fall freely. The machine said not a word as he sobbed and this allowed him to get all of his emotions out in one fell swoop. It took several minutes before he could compose himself again and he was grateful that Computer hadn't mocked him during that time. He was just glad that he were listening, even if he didn't care.

He began to type again. _'__I-I also don't want to waste away until it finally does me in either. I-I'm scared of what's going to happen.'_

The machine sighed yet again. "I don't want to get your hopes up, but I believe I might have an idea."

"R-Really?" He asked out loud. A small pang of hope entered his gut. Maybe Computer would have the answer he needed after all.

"Yes, but like I said, I don't want to get your hopes up. I plan to look into some kind of supernatural solution to this little conundrum. Things like legendary objects or places that can heal the terminally ill. It'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack though. Most of them will be just that, legends, or the place, object, or whatever else it could be might have already lost it's ability to heal, or it could have been a hoax all along. This isn't even including the fact that it might be halfway across the world or that there might be some complex ritual just to make it work."

"B-but you will look, won't you?"

"Of course, but please don't stake all of your hope on something like this. I can't guarantee that anything will pan out, and I honestly don't want to make things worse in the end. I'm afraid that solutions to living problems are rarely found in supernatural ones." He sounded exhausted at the thought of it all and even a bit worried.

"We only have until Friday though." Courage added. "Muriel is taking me back to the vet on that date. I-I think they're planning on d-doing 'it' then."

"Friday, huh? No pressure." Computer sarcastically remarked. "Alright, I'll begin searching then. Please leave me now so that I can work in peace." He had gone back to that business as usual tone.

Courage nodded in agreement. He was just about to leave before deciding to type one last thing into the keyboard.

_'Thank you'_

There was no response from the sarcastic machine.

Sighing, he picked himself up and dropped out of the chair. He was about halfway across the attic when Computer did indeed speak, causing him jump with surprise.

"You don't deserve this, you know." He said, speaking as though he needed to get this off his chest, or, well, whatever the computer equivalent of a chest might be. "I'm sorry that I can't be much help. Even if I don't find a way to cure you, I will still do everything in my power to help you out anyway. I promise you that much." He then let out a sigh. "Well, at least until the end comes."

End Of Chapter


	2. Absence Of Normalcy

Chapter 2: An Absence Of Normalcy

Just as he had suspected would happen, the trip downstairs had sapped Courage of what little energy he had left. He may have managed to avoid an attack, but he still felt just as tired. Muriel and Eustace were in living room, watching TV as they always did. Muriel would be cooking dinner soon and after that she would do a bit of housework, then they'd go back to watching TV until it was finally time for bed.

Being faced with his own morality, Courage was beginning to notice the odd sort of peace his small family had. Sure, it was often broken up by monster attacks or Eustace's usual greedy antics, but it was still a wonderful and very quiet life. He had really taken it for granted all these years. He'd honestly thought, at least in the back of his head, that this would go on forever. He loved his simple life, with his simple family, on their simple farm. Bad things did happen, sure, but he was willing to put up with it at the cost of having a life like this. Even the fact that they were living in the literal middle of nowhere wasn't so bad to him anymore. He really was going to miss it.

He moved across the room, completely ignored by his owners. He laid down next to Muriel's chair and sighed. She still wasn't noticing him, but he was glad to get some rest right beside her anyway. He didn't have the energy to worry right now and he didn't want to think about the things he had learned either. He let out another wistful sigh and buried his muzzle deeper into his paws.

"Oh, Courage. I didn't see you come down." Muriel spoke, causing him to jump.

It had been days since she had last spoke directly to him like that. He gazed up at her and gave her a quizzical look.

"It's nearly six, let's go make supper." She said, patting him on his head.

It left him completely stunned. She was actually talking to him again? Maybe he looked so miserable now that she couldn't bear to ignore him anymore. Part of him wanted to rest but the other part of him was desperate to try and prove to her that he was still the proper, 'not sick', Courage that he was.

Stifling a whimper, he followed her into the kitchen. His entire body shook with the effort. It left him cringing at his inability to function properly. How could he possibly act normal around Muriel when his entire body rebelled against his efforts?

"Courage?" She called out to him.

His weakness must have been obvious because she was gazing worriedly down at him. He gave her a meek grin that spoke the words, 'I'm alright!', but he really wasn't, at least not on the inside.

He clamored up into a chair and watched as Muriel set things up for dinner. She keep glancing over at him with a worried expression and he did his absolute best to wag his tail and smile at her whenever she did. He didn't want to worry her and that was the best he could do in his current predicament.

As he watched Muriel, he began to realize that there was even more evidence of his impending fate. She had been consistently making him his favorite foods almost every night since the veterinarian visit. Tonight she was serving up his favorite kind of dumplings with those 'happy plums' as dessert. He almost couldn't will himself to eat once he realized what was going on. His stomach lurched with anxiety as Muriel finished her cooking and set the table. He wanted to excuse himself from the kitchen but the worried look she kept giving him left him no choice but to stay and eat.

Things only managed to get worse when Eustace joined them. He didn't yell at him for sitting at the table, or even for sitting in his spot. That was something that would have normally earned him a shove off the chair, or worse.

They all ate in silence. Eustace was so buried in his newspaper that he often missed the bowl completely as he brought his spoon down into it. Muriel was refusing to look up from her own bowl too. The eerie silence was so painful that it only made Courage's stomach lurch even harder as he ate. He wished that he could be anywhere but there right now, but he knew that he would only worry Muriel even more if he left. He was so desperate for some kind of normalcy that he actually gave Eustace a pitiful look and got up out of the chair, taking his food with him. He dumped his dish into his dog bowl and looked back up, half expecting Eustace to move back into his usual spot. The old farmer did nothing, he simply kept ignoring everything around him. He flipped through another page of his newspaper and missed his bowl for what seemed like the millionth time. Courage could have ripped his ears out in frustration.

The food didn't sit well with him after that. Things were so uncanny and so unnatural that it only made him feel worse when he tried to make them right. He wished more than anything that his life could just go back to normal. Why did he have to get sick?

He sighed pitifully and left the kitchen. He couldn't bear sitting through another second of that terrible silence. He jumped into Muriel's chair and finally managed to get that nap he needed.

Muriel did the dishes while Eustace flipped through the channels on the TV. Courage heard the old man grumble a couple of times, enough to wake him up out of his sleep, but the farmer did nothing else and he certainly didn't notice or even care about the dog laying in his wife's chair. It was like he did not exist at all and it took a lot of effort for him not to be bothered by it or to just go back to sleep.

He wasn't sure how long he managed to rest, but he was woken up by Muriel who was gently shaking him. He sat up, blinked, and let out a loud yawn. He assumed that she wanted her spot back so he got up to jump down. Instead, she reached over and picked him.

"Would you like to help me with the laundry, Courage?" She asked, smiling at him.

"Mmhmm!" He replied, nodding with enthusiasm.

The truth was that he was dreading another long walk down a staircase, but he was willing to put up with it, if only for Muriel. He was going to try and not act sick. This was the perfect time for him to prove to her that he really was alright. Despite his fear, he let his tail wag with joy. He was just happy that Muriel wasn't ignoring him anymore.

Unfortunately, his joy was quickly diffused by the sheer effort it took to follow her down into the basement. It ended up being just as bad as he had feared. The pain and exhaustion he experienced was nigh unbearable. He was panting by the time he made it down the staircase, clutching his chest weakly. So much for trying not to act sick! It was a good thing that Muriel was too busy with her load of laundry to notice him gasping for air.

He sat down on the bottom step and watched as Muriel switched the laundry over. This was something that was normal for a change, something he had always done for as long as he could remember. He had always followed Muriel down into the basement, even when this place had scared him as a puppy. He wondered if he would eventually get too sick to follow her around like this and he shuddered at the thought of it.

Muriel almost seemed to sense his worried thoughts. She turned and began to talk to him as she folded up a few clothes. "Courage, you're a wonder you are. Remember when we first met? You were just a wee puppy, lost and all alone. I'm sure you missed your parents very much. I hope I've always been a good substitute for them." She sounded so sad. He hated to think about all the pain he was causing her.

"Arrruuufuuu." He replied in his dog speak, trying to reassure her with a pleasant smile. He could feel his eyes stinging with tears but he forced them back because he didn't want her to see. He wished he could thank her for everything she had done for him. He could have been left in that alleyway to rot and yet she had still taken him in.

And his parents...

That was another thing he was left to ponder over. His parents were still out there somewhere, supposedly still alive. Wherever they had been taken to in space, surely they were still alive there. He had never gotten a chance to save them and now there was no way he could possibly do anything for them. He'd never see them again, not ever.

Muriel began humming that little tune that she often used while working around the house. It was a song that Courage had listened to her sing for as long as he had lived on the farm. For a single moment, everything felt normal. Memories of all the happy times he had spent on the farm filled his mind. He couldn't help but wonder why this happy little life with Muriel and Eustace had to end.

He fought back even more tears now. He was scared to lose this all, to lose his own life, to lose everything he had ever known, to lose Muriel, to lose even his own parents. He hoped dearly that Computer would come through for him in the end. He hated to think about what would happen if he did not. The thought of Computer possibly telling him that he needed to give up and accept the inevitable left him shivering in terror.

"Alright, Courage. Time to go take these upstairs." Muriel said cheerfully. Her words managed to pull pull him out of his thoughts.

He nodded happily in reply but cringed on the inside. He didn't know how he was going to make it up all those steps this time. He prepared himself for the pain that he knew he was about to experience, but even then he knew it wouldn't be enough. He wished that he could get it across to her that he wanted a ride up, but if he did that he knew it would be an acknowledgment of his illness.

As they walked over to the stairs, Muriel continued to speak, "All things have to come to an end, Courage. It's just a natural part of life. Even our happy little existence on this farm will one day come to an end. That doesn't mean it has to be a bad thing though. Nothing stays the same forever."

Courage nodded. He felt even worse knowing why she was saying that, and it was hard to think that he might not have even known what was going on if he hadn't gone to Computer for help. He wanted to feel like Muriel had betrayed him, but he knew deep down that she was only doing what she felt was best for him. She wanted to make sure that he wouldn't have to suffer in the end, even if putting him down would hurt all of them just as much as waiting would.

His vision had gone blurry again and he had to wipe his eyes when Muriel wasn't looking. All things end, huh? He wished it didn't have to be so.

"For now, let's just enjoy the time we have." Muriel said. Her voice was growing sad and weary again, much to Courage's dismay.

Somehow he made it up the staircase, his chest burning with agony. He had to crawl up the last few steps and was panting so loudly that half of Nowhere could probably hear him. He had given up trying to pretend that he was alright. He didn't want to worry Muriel, yes, but he just couldn't fight his own exhaustion anymore.

And then it happened.

It started out the way it always did, a tingling sensation in his chest growing worse and worse. Then came the shortness of breath. He began to gasp in a desperate attempt to get enough air into his lungs. He placed a paw up against his chest as the tingling grew into a horrible, stabbing pain. It felt like someone had jabbed a knife into him and was twisting it all around.

He let out a weak cry and toppled to the floor. Writhing in pain, he was barely getting enough air into his lungs to keep him from passing out. He kept a single paw all but buried into his chest. It was almost as if he could claw the pain out if he tried hard enough.

Despite the vicious buzzing in his ears, he heard Muriel shout, "Oh, no! Eustace! It's happening to him again!"

He caught a glimpse of the old farmer running into the kitchen from the living room. He was forced to snap his eyes shut again as the pain overwhelmed him. He let out another cry of agony. He knew that they couldn't help him, but in the throes of an attack the primal desire to escape his pain overwrote all other senses. For one horrible moment he almost wished a vet really would come in and stab a needle into his arm. He envisioned Muriel grabbing a butcher knife and stabbing him through the heart, finally ending his pain. He would have done anything to escape. Not even his fear of dying could overcome his desire to end the pain.

"Don't touch 'em! Doctor said it'll only make things worse!" He heard Eustace say to Muriel.

His vision began to grow a hazy red, not that he could keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds anyway. The pain was somehow getting even worse. He continued to writhe on the floor, crying out every time he finally managed to get some air into his lungs. His mind was growing foggy and the world around him was falling away. Finally, his vision went black and unconsciousness took him.

…..

It felt like hours had passed before he woke up again. Thankfully, it seemed that only a couple of minutes had really gone by. He could feel Muriel's warm arms wrapped around him and he opened his eyes, unsurprised to find that his vision was blurry and still unfocused, just like they always were after an attack. He could just barely make out the looks on Muriel and Eustace's faces.

"What can we do? He's hurting so badly." Muriel asked. Her voice was filled with a mixture of fear and sorrow.

The old farmer scratched the back of his head in dismay. "We can't do anything for 'em. Doctor said so, didn't he? We just gotta wait till Friday, I guess."

Muriel nearly dropped Courage in her outrage. "You want them to do it, don't you? How can you want them to do something like that to poor Courage! You're an evil man, you are!" She plopped the bleary eyed pup down onto the kitchen table in frustration. He whined softly up at her but she ignored him. He really didn't want them to fight...

She tried to choke out several more insults but instead broke down and began to sob. She opened her mouth to say something else, but nothing came out. Burying her face in her hands, she stormed out the backdoor.

Eustace outstretched a hand as if to stop her, but she was already gone. "That ain't it, Muriel. That ain't it at all." He murmured.

Courage looked up at him. His mind was finally starting to clear up and he began to wonder what the old farmer might try to do next.

Eustace looked down at him and scowled. "Dumb dog! Why'd you have to go and get sick? Muriel ain't happy when you're not around!" He shook his head angrily and glanced back over at the open door. "Muriel..." He murmured out a second time.

Without missing another beat, the old farmer took off out the door in search of his wife. Courage could not remember the last time he had looked so worried about anything except losing money. Gathering what little strength he could manage, he decided to follow his owners.

Slowly and shakily, he made his way off the kitchen table and out into the night air. He could find neither of the old couple. Getting worried that something might have happened, he noticed that the door to the barn had been left slightly ajar. He headed over to it and braced himself for the worse.

Peering inside, he blinked with surprise at what he saw. Muriel was sitting on a haystack with a handkerchief pressed beneath her glasses and Eustace was standing beside her, saying something that Courage couldn't hear. They were both talking in an inaudible low whisper, but he was glad to see that they weren't fighting anymore.

Eustace sat down and they both talked for a very long time. Courage was finding it very hard not to topple over in exhaustion as he waited. He never thought he'd see a day where just standing around would tire him out so much.

As their conversation went on, Muriel shook her head sadly and said something that Courage still couldn't pick up. Eustace said something back to her, looking surprisingly concerned, and a long silence followed. Eustace finally reached over and placed a hand onto hers, gently smiling as if to reassure her of something. She smiled back with a renewed vigor that Courage hadn't seen since before he had been taken to the vet. Then, something happened that he had not seen even once in all of the time he had lived on the farm. Eustace pulled Muriel into a hug.

Courage had to pick his jaw up from off the ground. Never once had he seen that greedy, angry, old farmer show love for anything except his money. It left the poor dog flabbergasted and questioning if he really were awake. This couldn't be real, could it?

"That's why I married you, remember?" The old man clarified. His voice echoed through the barn, just loud enough for Courage to hear.

"I thought you had forgotten." Muriel answered, her voice forlorn.

"Even if the dog does, well, you know, I promise I'll still be here for you. Well, so long as you keep makin' me dinner!"

"Dinner, huh? Now what would a grumpy old man like you do without me?" Muriel laughed.

Courage turned away. He decided that it would be best to leave. He didn't want to see the old couple start kissing or something gross like that, and he also felt like he were intruding in on something that he had no right to be apart of. He was happy for the two of them, but he was facing the grim reality of what was going on. They were preparing for his permanent absence.

He whimpered softly. Exhausted and lonely, he did not head back into the house but instead walked over to the front porch. He sat down and stared up at the stars. He quietly wondered if his parents were looking down on him.

Part of him desperately wanted to go visit Computer, just so he wouldn't have to be alone right now. Unfortunately, he already knew that the machine wouldn't want him around though. Computer didn't make for good company anyway, that much he knew all too well. He was also worried that the machine might already have an answer for him and he wasn't willing to deal with the shock of either outcome right now.

Frustrated, he buried his head into his paws. It was _his_ turn to cry now. He was alone in dealing with his own demise, and he hated every moment of it. Muriel and Eustace didn't understand and Computer most certainly wouldn't understand either. He was completely alone in facing the illness ravaging his body, and he knew deep down that he'd probably be facing that needle all alone too...

End Of Chapter


	3. Steeped In Nightmares

Chapter 3: Steeped In Nightmares

The rest of the night went by like it always did. In fact, it almost had the air of normalcy that Courage so dearly missed. Muriel let him nap on her lap again, Eustace read his newspaper, and they both ignored the fact that they had been fighting. Courage was just happy to have things back to normal, at least for now.

Eustace gave a loud yawn, signaling the end of their night. He set his newspaper down and turned the TV off. Muriel placed Courage onto the floor as she always did and wordless joined Eustace at the foot of the stairs.

Courage cringed as he gazed over at his owners. He couldn't bear the thought of going up those steps again, especially after his attack. He was so weak right now that he could hardly even walk, much less get up the stairs. Muriel apparently sensed his hesitation and moved forward to pick him up and he shrunk back as she drew nearer. He didn't want her to help him despite knowing that he'd never make it up there alone. It would be an admission of his weakness and he didn't want to acknowledge it. He knew he couldn't get up those stairs without help, but he wasn't willing to admit that he needed the help either. It was absolutely infuriating and left him feeling completely helpless.

"Courage?" She asked, outstretching a hand towards him.

He drew in a breath and allowed her to pick him up. He surrendered to his exhaustion and hung limply in her arms. He couldn't fight it any longer. He just wanted to go to sleep and hopefully wake up feeling better tomorrow.

"Are you okay, Courage?" She asked as she walked them up the stairs.

He weakly nodded in reply, not bothering to open his eyes again. They were too heavy to lift anyway.

They entered the bedroom and she set him down on the bed. Eustace was already in the bathroom at this point so she sat there beside the exhausted dog. He was already half asleep and barely even noticed that she was there. He felt her place a hand on his head and he opened an eye to look up at her. He muttered out a few gibberish words and then closed his eye again.

"Good night, Courage." She said, the weariness in her voice apparent.

He drifted off to sleep several minutes later. He was vaguely aware of the sounds that Muriel and Eustace made as they got ready for bed, but nothing could pull him out of his exhausted sleep completely. Thirty minutes later, he snapped wide awake, his mind suddenly alert. He glanced around the room, confused at his sudden wakefulness but found nothing out of the ordinary. Muriel and Eustace were asleep and the night was as calm as ever. Not even the wind was making the wood house creak.

He glanced over at his owners and watched as they slept. A sense of fear and foreboding made his heart race and kept him from relaxing. His mind wouldn't stop wandering back to his impending doom. He was absolutely exhausted and yet his mind refused to shut down. What if he really couldn't be saved? What would Muriel do without him? Would Eustace replace him? Would they get another dog? Could the old couple really go on without him? What would it be like to die? What would it be like to be put down?

He shivered and whined softly. He had a desperate urge to crawl in between the two pillows of the old couple, but he held himself back. It would be as if he were a puppy all over again, hiding from the strange sounds that echoed through the house. No, he did not want to wake Muriel up, and crawling in between her and Eustace would certainly do just that.

He considered going to see Computer, but he knew he didn't have the strength to walk across the hall and over to the attic either. If Computer wasn't ready for him, he'd be told to leave anyway. He didn't want to put that much effort into getting there when he knew it was all going to be for nothing anyway. Computer wouldn't care if he was tired or not, and he certainly wouldn't tolerate his presence longer than he had to.

Sighing sadly, he laid back down. He was never going to fall asleep if he kept worrying himself like this. He allowed his mind to focus on the rhythmic snoring of his owner and he slowly but surely calmed down. He wasn't even sure if he had managed to fall back asleep again before Muriel's voice suddenly alerted him.

"Courage? Courage? It's time to get up!" She said to him. She kept shaking him until he finally opened his eyes and he groaned slightly, unsure of what was going on. Muriel usually let him sleep as long as he needed to.

"Time to go to the doctor, Courage!" She cheerfully told him.

It was so uncharacteristic of her after how she had reacted to his illness that he recoiled in shock. A pit formed within his stomach at her words. She was smiling down at him with a surprisingly nasty air of cruelty.

"B-but I thought we weren't going back until Friday?" He asked, even though he knew she couldn't understand him.

"Here you go, dumb dog!" Eustace spoke, appearing from somewhere behind him and clamping his purple leash around his neck.

"But, wait-" Courage pleaded. The proper words he wanted to say wouldn't come out. It was like his voice had gone away completely. His heart felt like it was about to explode with terror. What was going on here?

"Let's get this over with!" Muriel snapped. Her tone was becoming more and more nasty with every word she spoke.

Eustace began to yank at the leash. "Come on, you stupid dog! You ain't needed around here no more! Time to go take a nap...a long, long, nap!"

Courage dug his nails into the wood floor and fought with every fiber of his being, but it was no use. He didn't want to die! Why were they doing this to him? Why did it have to end this way?

Eustace gave an mighty tug on the leash, and, despite Courage's best efforts, he was sent flying.

"NOOOOOOOO!" He screamed, struggling the whole way.

Somehow, the old couple managed to lift his flailing self all the way down the stairs, through the living room, and into the truck. He tried to make an escape through the window but Eustace caught him before he could get away.

"Don't be so difficult, Courage! It'll all be over soon!" Muriel sternly said to him.

He was placed in his usual spot between Muriel and Eustace and whined desperately up at them as they both got ready to leave. They ignored his whines, much to his growing sorrow, and he could only watch in fear as the farm fell away from his view. It would be the last time he ever saw his home again...

He tried to go over several escape plans in his head, but he knew none of them would work. Eustace would chase him no matter what he did and he was too sick to run very far.

The old couple chatted merrily about how happy they were to finally be getting rid of that stupid dog. They both ignored the pitiful looks he was giving them. He knew it was hopeless. Even if he managed to escape, where would he go?

It felt as if it was only a matter of seconds before their journey ended. They pulled up to the vet's office and yanked him out of the truck. The brick building loomed over them, casting a shadow so large that it seemed to swallow the world around them. The letters atop the building glowed with a crimson malice. The giant brick coffin was all but beckoning to him, as if it had been waiting for him to return all this time.

He pulled at the leash the whole way up to the building and Eustace all but bashed him to death as he yanked him up the steps. His head managed to smack into every last one of them as he struggled against the old farmer's iron grip.

Muriel sneered at him. "Time to go! For good!"

The sickly smell of medicine filled his nostrils as they entered the waiting room. They didn't even have to wait for their turn, the receptionist just glared at Courage and then pointed over to a door. Still struggling against his leash, Muriel and Eustace pulled him through the door and plopped him down onto a cold, metal table. He sat there, shivering with fear. He knew it was over and there was nothing more he could do now.

The metal door opened again and this time his heart nearly stopped when he saw the doctor who entered through it. It was the veterinarian who had blasted his parents off into space...

"No, no, no, no!" He whimpered, glancing around for something, _anything_ to help him get out of the room and escape.

The veterinarian looked down at a clipboard and then broke out into an awful grin. "Well, well! I wasn't expecting to have you _this_ soon. Heheheheh!"

Courage let out a scream of pure terror. He was certain that his heart would give out right then and there. He couldn't bear it, he had to get away! Far, far away from this awful man! He jumped off the table and bolted out the door before anyone could stop him or grab his leash. He heard a crashing sound behind him as either Muriel, Eustace, or the vet went after him. He didn't dare take the time to look back.

"Courage!" He heard Muriel cry.

He made his way down the empty hall, very much aware of the footsteps trailing behind him. He crashed through the door on the other side and was horrified to find that it no longer led to the waiting room but now led to a dirty kennel room.

Hundreds of dogs were madly barking at him. _"Meet your fate! Meet your fate!"_ They chanted in unison.

He ran through the room, ignoring the cries of his fellow canines. He crashed through another door and this time landed in a vacant room. The barks of the other dogs still echoed all around him, but he ignored it. The vet would soon be on his tail and nothing else mattered except getting away.

The room had no windows nor any doors, all except for the one he had just used, and a single steel vault on the other side. Every instinct he had seemed to be screaming at him to not go near that metal vault, but it looked like he didn't have much choice either way. There was no other way out aside from turning around and running right back into the veterinarian's clutches.

"Courage? Courage? Where are you? It's time to go! Running isn't going to help!" Muriel yelled. Her voice was muffled but getting closer.

Left with no other choice, he ran over to the vault and opened it. He was hit with a cold blast of air and several garbage bags fell out, toppling all over him. A horrible smell nearly made him gag.

"Yuck!" He cried out, placing a paw up against his nose. The smell was impossible to block out. He looked up and found a sign taped to the wall.

He gasped.

COLD STORAGE

-EUTHANIZED-

A moment of sheer terror ran through him as he realized what those bags were. He let out a horrible scream and turned to run. The world had unfortunately changed again and this time he was looking down a seemingly endless hallway. A giant EXIT sign glowed like a beacon guiding him out of this horror, but he didn't know if he could even make it that far. It seemed like it was miles away...

Despite his doubts, he ran as fast as his legs would take him. He was tiring out fast from his panic but he didn't care. That exit sign just didn't seem to be getting any closer but he wasn't giving up. This was his only means of escape.

No matter how far or how long he ran, he wasn't getting any closer to the door. In fact, it felt like it was getting farther and farther away...

He let out a cry of frustration and toppled over. He had to stop running, he was just getting too tired to continue and he couldn't afford to aggravate his condition at a time like this. He sat there, panting, hunched over with one paw on his knee. He looked up at the glowing EXIT sign and found that it was turning into a pin prick on the horizon. The walls around him seemed to be getting larger and larger and he himself getting smaller and smaller. His freedom had been so close and yet...

"Gotcha!" The vet's suddenly shouted, causing him to jump.

He turned and tried to run, but it was too late. The vet pulled a net out from behind his back and caught him before he could so much as lift a paw.

"Ready to go, little fella?" The cruel man asked, putting the net up to his face and laughing.

The world melted away and changed yet again. This time they were back in the room with the metal table. Courage, screaming at the top of his lungs, was pulled out from the net and forced down onto the metal table. He was then quickly strapped down and left with no chance of escape.

It was over, he realized. He was doomed. Part of him resigned to his fate but the other half still fought like a trapped animal. He couldn't free himself no matter how much he tried, all he could do now was shiver in fear and hope that some kind of miracle would occur.

A terrible wave of sadness rolled through him. He had no way out and no place to go. Muriel and Eustace almost seemed happy to see him go too. Wasn't Muriel at least sad? Right now she was smiling gleefully and rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

"Time to go, Courage." She said in a deathly quiet voice.

"Stupid dog! Hurry up and die already!" Eustace yelled.

"I've been waiting a long time for this!" The vet added, pulling out a syringe that was almost as big as he was. The needle itself was even bigger and gleamed dangerously in the light. Its contents glowed a sickly green and the bubbles were rising up to create the shape of a skull and cross bone.

Courage could see his own reflection in the liquid, scared and so very tired looking. He barely even resembled his old self anymore. Maybe...maybe it was a good thing for him to die. He had never been 'right' ever since he had gotten sick and he certainly wasn't the Courage he had once been. Maybe this was why Eustace and Muriel didn't want him around anymore. In his liquid reflection, he could see them and even his parents waving goodbye. In fact, he could see everyone he had ever known waving goodbye to him. Even his old enemies were there, waving happily because he was dying. They all just seemed...so happy to see him go. Well, if they wanted him to die so badly, then maybe it really was time to go...

"Goooodbyee." They all said in unison.

N-no..." He whimpered, tears falling freely from his eyes. How could they all want him to die so badly?

Then, he realized, Computer wasn't there. Of all the figures in that reflection, the machine was the only one missing. He was the only one still holding out for him. He was the only one trying to find a way to help him, instead of just giving up and waving goodbye. Courage smiled at the thought of it and all the sorrow he felt melted away completely. It was replaced with a calm acceptance. He could face his end knowing that someone still cared, even if it was from his snide computer.

...And then, the reflections all vanished, leaving him to face his fate alone. The vet shifted the giant syringe so that the needle was now pointed down at him. That single moment of acceptance vanished and it was now replaced by cold, hard, terror. The kind that one felt when they knew they were going to die.

"This won't hurt a bit!" The vet giggled.

"N-No, please!" Courage weakly begged. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited.

The vet jabbed the needle into his heart and he screamed out in agony. A burning sensation sliced through his chest. He thrashed around for several seconds, trying to escape the poison that was now entering his body. The pain was unimaginable. He flung himself in every direction but it was no good, there was no escape. And then...

...And then he work up...

The horrible pain was not coming from a needle in his chest, but instead from another attack that had struck him while he slept. He rolled back and fourth across the bed, wishing it would end, wishing it would go away. He seemed to lose control of his flailing limbs and then toppled off the bed. Just as quickly as it had come, it was soon over and he was left gasping on the floor.

He whimpered to himself as a sense of crushing hopelessness fell over him. He was going to die. Computer would not be able to help him and he was going to die.

He pulled together what little energy he had left and sat up. He gazed up at the bed and hoped to find Muriel and Eustace staring down at him, but that was not the case. His attack mustn't have woken them up despite his cries. He couldn't see himself climbing back up into the bed alone, but he didn't want to wake them up either. Sighing to himself, he fought back the growing sense of complete powerlessness that he felt.

The dream had shaken him badly. Did Muriel and Eustace really want him to die? They both assumed that just because he was in pain that he wanted to die because of it! He was almost angry with them for not considering what he wanted. Couldn't they at least be nice enough to wake up and help him out? Were they just pretending that he wasn't there? Practicing for when he really was gone?

He forced that anger out of his mind. He wasn't going to worry about it. There was no point in getting angry with them either way. He didn't want to burden Muriel anymore and he was tired of making her feel sad. If she wanted him to stop suffering, who was he to fight it?

"I'm doomed." He softly moaned, tears stinging at the edges of his eyes. The image of that giant syringe was burnt into his mind and he knew that it was coming.

Unsure of what else to do, he crawled under the bed, just wanting to get away from everybody. He didn't want to deal with Muriel, Eustace, or even Computer anymore. He let his depression overtake him and he lay there sobbing until finally he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

End Of Chapter Three


	4. Return

Chapter 4: Return

"C'mon, Courage, you can't stay down there all day." Muriel pleaded. She was on her hands and knees trying to get him out from under the bed.

"Shouldn't bother, Muriel. He'll come out when he wants to." Eustace spoke. Courage could see his feet next to Muriel's hunched over form.

"I guess...I guess you're right." Muriel choked out after a long pause. She'd been pleading with him to come out for nearly two hours now. "Whenever you're ready, Courage, I'll be waiting to make you some lunch."

There was another long pause. Courage did nothing.

He watched as the two left. Part of him desperately wanted to join them but the other part of him wanted to stay. He was afraid, yes, but being with Eustace and Muriel only seemed to make things worse. Everything reminded him of his impending doom and he just wanted to be left alone.

Groaning, he turned over. His entire body ached. Last night's attack had left him far more sore then what was normal for him. Under normal circumstances he would have blacked out after an attack but last night had been a rare case where he had not. Somehow, it had amplified his weariness tenfold. He was glad that Muriel had left for awhile. He just wanted silence and some time to rest. He hated moping around like this but everything just felt..._wrong_. As much as he wanted to sleep, he feared having that nightmare again. He knew it wasn't real but it still had frightened him to his very core. He was certain that the real thing would be a lot like the dream. Sure, Muriel and Eustace wouldn't really want him gone and that evil vet wouldn't be around to jab a massive needle into his arm, but still...

He shivered.

He knew he couldn't stay under the bed all day, Muriel would worry herself to death if he did. As much as he wanted to be by himself, he knew it wasn't the right thing to do. He thought about visiting Computer and then Muriel could come looking for him up there later. The snide machine wouldn't bother him if he asked for peace and quite and although he was afraid of whatever news he might get, he knew he couldn't avoid it forever.

It took him several minutes to come to a decision. He crawled out from under the bed and steeled his nerves for whatever fate he was about to be given. He had to stand there for a moment as he waited for the pain in his chest to subside but aside from that, he was ready for whatever he was about to be told.

Slowly and carefully, he made his way down the hall and into the attic. The last thing he wanted to do was attract Muriel's attention. He found himself shivering with anticipation as he walked. He couldn't help but assume the worse. Computer would probably give him bad news and he wasn't sure how he'd handle it.

Moving across the attic room, he stopped at the foot of Computer's desk. He had to take a moment to catch his breath. Stifling a groan, he got ready to climb up into the chair. It took more effort than usual but he somehow managed to make it up there. He waited for Computer to say something and he thankfully didn't have to wait very long either.

"I see you've finally returned." The machine spoke. He lacked the usual annoyance in his tone which was odd given his normal kind of greetings.

Courage thought about telling him everything that had happened since they had last met up, but ultimately decided not to. His feelings about how Muriel and Eustace had been acting lately were just too personal to share with the machine. He especially didn't want to talk about the nightmare, knowing that Computer would just end up laughing at him for it.

"You don't look very well." The machine continued after a long and somewhat uncomfortable silence.

Courage gave him an expression which hopefully conveyed the words, 'well duh' and left it at that.

"Have you been sleeping properly?" He asked.

Courage shook his head rather sheepishly in response. Sometimes he could swear that Computer was capable of reading minds...

"You need to keep your strength up. I can't do anything for you if you drop dead sooner than expected."

_'I can't help it.' _He typed.

"But you must try anyway." The machine replied. "Constant fatigue will only worsen your condition and strain your body."

_'Have you found anything yet?' _Courage asked, finally getting to the thing that he really wanted to talk about.

"Well..." Computer hesitated, his voice trailing off. "I can't say that I have."

Courage's heart dropped once again. He tried to keep his expression normal but he knew he was failing.

"There's plenty of time to keep searching." Computer interjected. He was obviously trying to keep him from losing hope. "I may have found a few leads but I can't bank on anything yet."

"This isn't going to work, is it?" Courage asked, glancing down sadly.

"Now is not the time to give up. We have plenty of time to figure something out and I'm not just sitting up here doing nothing, you know."

"I didn't say you were." Courage said with a sigh. "I'm just worried that I _will_ drop dead before Friday comes around."

"Take it easy and rest as much as possible. You should be fine just so long as you don't push yourself too hard."

"A-alright." He replied with a gentle nod. He couldn't help but feel a little better. Computer's authority and assurance never failed to calm him. Knowing that there was someone out there trying to help him quelled the worst of his fears. Even his nightmare hadn't seemed so bad after he realized he wasn't alone in facing this.

Now he was becoming aware of just how hungry he was. With the worst of his fears alleviated it seemed that his appetite had finally returned. He placed a paw on his stomach and it rumbled loudly. He laughed sheepishly, not knowing if Computer had picked up the sound or not.

"It looks like you've been neglecting your nutrition as well..." The machine grumbled, not sounding even mildly amused. "Well then, allow me to get back to work and you should go find something to eat. Come back tonight and I'll update you on whatever I find. Keep up with all your flesh creature business or else you'll run the risk of making your condition even worse. If you're not careful, the illness will cause you to waste away before I can do anything about it."

Courage nodded gently in reply. He was about to get up to leave but then hesitated for a moment. He suddenly wanted to tell Computer about that awful nightmare. He wanted a confirmation from his supposedly infallible computer that being put down wouldn't be like that. He waited a moment and then decided that it would be better not to. The nightmare had been far too personal to talk about and Computer probably would just tell him that he was stupid for letting the dream get the better of him.

Sighing softly, he hopped off the chair. He glanced back up at the computer screen one last time, wishing that the machine would say something. He did not.

When it was obvious that nothing was going to happen, he made his way back out of the room. He was ready for that lunch Muriel had promised. His stomach rumbled again and he sighed wearily. There was still a staircase and a living room standing between him and food. This was not going to be fun...

End Of Chapter Four


	5. A Plan

Chapter 5: A Plan

Muriel looked visibly relieved when Courage came down for his food. She was almost on the verge of tears as she warmed it up for him. She moved through the kitchen with such an air of depression that Courage almost wished he hadn't come down at all. He couldn't stand to see her so upset. As he chewed on his lunch he was reminded of something he hadn't even thought of before. Animals liked to find small, dark places to hide when they were dying. He recoiled at the thought of it and realized that he had been following his instincts on accident. It was no wonder why Muriel had been so worried.

The rest of the day went by as normally as one could expect considering the grim circumstances. Despite Muriel and Eustace's reconciliation last night, they were still being uncharacteristically silent. They both continued to ignore Courage, unless he did something deliberately to get their attention, and it was driving him crazy.

As the afternoon rolled around Courage was left feeling just as empty and depressed as ever. He was still so tired that he really couldn't do much of anything anyway. He was worried that he wouldn't have enough strength to get up stairs and meet with Computer tonight either. If he were struck by another attack, he certainly wouldn't be able to manage it.

After a very long and very silent supper he decided that it would be best to go visit Computer now before anything else could happen to him. He doubted the machine would be very happy to see him again so soon, but if he waited any longer he would risk having another attack and thus never having a chance to get to him in the first place. If he talked with him now, he could at least go the rest of the night without having to worry.

Eustace and Muriel soon settled themselves in to watch their usual nightly shows. Courage decided that this was the perfect time to make his way up the stairs but he was stopped when Muriel beckoned him to join her on her lap. He shook his head in response.

"Is something wrong, Courage?" She asked. "Do you need anything?"

He shook his head again. He pointed up to the ceiling, trying to convey to her what he wanted to do.

"You need to go upstairs?" She asked.

He nodded. She probably thought he needed to use the bathroom or something and that was just as well.

"Would you like my help, deary?" She asked again. She was keeping her tone pleasant but it was obvious that she was just trying to mask her sorrow.

He cringed and shook his head. He did want her help but he didn't want to admit that he needed it either. He would have given anything _except _Muriel's own happiness to help make his trek up the staircase a little less painful. He could not and would not admit that he needed the help.

Muriel reclined back into her rocking chair. "Alright, Courage. If you need anything, you just let me know."

He nodded and quickly got out of her sight. Free of her questioning gaze, he began to climb up the staircase. The trip up to the attic was just as slow and painful as he assumed it would be. He stopped himself at the doorway just long enough to catch his breath and went inside. Part of him really wished he could move Computer somewhere a little more accessible but he doubted he'd be able do it by himself and Eustace would probably get angry if he saw what he was trying to do.

Stifling a pain filled groan, he walked over to desk and climbed up into the chair. It felt _wonderful_ to get off his feet.

"Back already, are you? Have you rested up?" Computer asked.

"A bit." He replied, once again growing annoyed with how tired he sounded. He didn't dare say anything else. Just the act of speaking had left him out of breath. Computer gave him a moment as he sat there panting.

_'Can't say that I'm feeling any better.' _He typed out once he finally regained his breath.

"I suppose that's to be expected." Computer replied. "Just don't forget what I said, I can't help you if you drop dead from the lack of rest."

_'Find anything?' _Courage asked, immediately changing the subject. He felt his ears droop. He couldn't stop the dread that rolled through him. He must have looked terrified.

Computer sighed. "No, I haven't found anything yet. Miracles aren't exactly easy to come by."

_'Guess I should expect the worse then?' _He asked, shivering lightly. He was desperate not to panic but how could he not?

"Well..." Computer spoke. He halted and did not continue. Several moments passed and then he began to whisper to himself. The words didn't even appear on his screen like they normally did. "Should I do it? Would it be worth it? I wonder..."

Courage gave him a quizzical look but it was ignored.

"I suppose it's for the best." He continued to whisper. "If I don't do something he'll..." He stopped again and then a long silence followed.

"Computer?" Courage asked. Just what the heck had he been talking about?

"There is one thing." He said, his voice returning to its normal volume. "I wasn't really going to consider it because of all the effort it would require, but it may be our only option at this point. It won't be easy, you understand."

"It must be better than nothing. I'll do whatever has to be done." Courage replied.

Hope...a small amount of hope. He didn't care how hard it would be. He'd do whatever needed to be done to save himself. There was no other option aside from just giving up and dying.

"Now, listen closely, I don't want to have to repeat myself." Computer said, taking on the usual tone he had whenever he was giving out information. "Not too far from here is a wellspring hidden within a cave. It's in a mountainous region and may be somewhat hard to reach. I believe it can be found however, if it actually exists."

"_A wellspring?" _Courage thought to himself. He was reminded of that old, 'Fountain Of Youth' myth. Muriel had read him some weird story about it once when he was still just a puppy.

Sensing his confusion, Computer brought up a picture. It couldn't be the wellspring he was talking about because the picture showed one that was out in the open, but it got the job done.

"Legend claims that this wellspring has the power to heal. It can even heal people who are inches away from death. It heals all aliments, no matter how grave or how grievous."

Courage smiled. "That's good!"

Computer continued, ignoring the tiny dog's improving mood. "First of all, I can't be completely certain that the wellspring exists as there are only legends to follow. Second of all, this requires that I come with you."

Courage blinked. "A-are you joking or something?" He couldn't see himself taking Computer anywhere and even then he seriously doubted the cave would have any electricity for the machine to use...

"I'm being serious, you twit!" He replied, annoyed by his dismissal. "I need to come with you to make sure everything works out properly. I highly doubt you'd be able to find the cave without my help anyway."

"Can't you just give me the information that's needed to do this ritual or whatever?" He asked. There was no way he was going to drag Computer up a mountain...

The machine hesitated. "According to the runes I've been translating, it's absolutely required that a second person begins the ritual for the person who needs the healing. There are no exceptions. It's even possible that there could be some serious consequences if it were done incorrectly."

_'How do you expect me to get you to a cave in the middle of a mountain?' _Courage asked, switching back to typing so that he could communicate better.

"Have you forgotten about that time I took over Muriel's body?" He asked.

Courage was surprised that he would even bring that up again. He had always gotten the impression that the whole 'Mega Muriel' incident was a huge source of embarrassment for the machine. He _had _messed up pretty badly by the end of it and had nearly gotten them both killed for it.

_'How could I forget?' _He typed.

"My plan to get us to this mountain range is a bit complex but necessary, so listen closely."

'_Don't worry, if I don't I'm doomed anyway, right?'_

Computer ignored his comment. "For starters, you're going to need money for transportation and you'll have to figure out what sort of transportation we'll be using to get us there, I would suggest a bus."

_'What about the truck outside? Eustace wouldn't be too happy if we took it but it would still be worth it if we did.'_

The machine let out a cynical laugh. "Ha! I wouldn't trust my life on that truck if it were the last mode of transportation in all the known universe! Unless you plan on fixing that thing five billion times on the way there then I suggest you find something more reliable."

_'Alright, alright! Money and bus tickets! I'll see what I can do.'_

"There is also a book at the library in your town that I require. It's old and very few records of it exist on the internet, but from what I can tell it may be very helpful in finding this wellspring. Finding a single magical cave in the middle of a mountain isn't exactly going to be easy but a book with cryptic directions is better then nothing. I'll print out what you'll need to find the book at the library so this shouldn't be very hard for you."

_'Old book...got it!'_

"Last but not least, we need to figure out how to create a power surge. Preferably one that simulates the conditions of a lightning strike."

_'Wait...uh, what?' _

"Do you really think I can just get up and walk around whenever I feel like it? That Mega Muriel business was a one time thing and the conditions are going to have to be recreated if we want to do it again, preferably without accidentally killing me. Goodness knows, I don't exactly feel like having my insides fried."

_'Well, you did say this wasn't going to be easy...' _

"Hmph! I hope even a twit like you can have some good ideas. All of mine end with the very likely conclusion of me being fried from the inside out. We need to create something like a lightning bolt but not having it kill me in the process."

_'Can't we just wait for a thunderstorm or something?' _Courage asked.

"Unfortunately there isn't any rain between now and Friday, much less an actual storm. Besides, lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, you twit."

_'We've got time to figure it out though. For now I'll just worry about the other things and you can worry about this lightning jumper-cable or whatever.' _Courage laughed.

"For your sake you better hope that I do figure out this 'lightning jumper-cable' thing." The machine replied in a stiff tone. "Anyway, my plan is to be up and mobile by Friday. While they're taking you to be put to sleep I plan to sneak into the back of the truck and then find a dog body once we get there. After I do that, I'll be able to get you out of there before they can kill you."

"WHAT?" Courage shrieked. "That's cutting it way too close!"

"I wouldn't ask it of you if it wasn't important. The wellspring requires that the two who use it be of the same species, I can't just use any old body laying around. A dog who is about to be put down is preferable for my needs. Nobody is going to miss a dog who is about to die."

Courage glared at him, annoyed with what he was implying.

"Oh, sorry." The machine replied, catching on to what he had meant. He didn't exactly sound very sorry though.

_'So,' _Courage typed. _'I should just worry about the first two things for now and hope we find a way to get you mobile by Friday?'_

"Pretty much." Computer responded in a rather dull tone. "Are you sure you can handle these tasks though? Given your condition, this could be difficult."

_'I'll think of something.' _He replied. He had to admit, he wasn't sure how he was going to get the money he needed for those tickets.

"Just don't put it off to the last second." Computer spoke. "And get some rest for goodness sake! You look like you're about to drop dead! You're going to need your strength for the journey ahead and it's crucial that you don't tire yourself out any worse then you already have."

"Its not like I'm not trying, It's just..." He replied, trailing off.

"Hmmm, you told me that you weren't sleeping very well this morning, right?"

"Well, it isn't just that, my strength hasn't been returning after attacks anymore." He admitted rather sheepishly.

"There isn't much I can do to help you right now. If I could, I would, but that isn't the case. Don't come up here anymore unless it's absolutely necessary for you to do so. It's obvious that getting up here really pulls a number on you."

Courage had to admit, it really was amazing how quickly Computer could go from sounding annoyed to sympathetic. "Alright, I'll try to come back as soon as I've got the stuff you wanted."

"Speaking of which..." The machine spoke. The printer on the floor next to the desk came to life, printing out several papers. "This is the information that you will need for the book and the bus routes we will need to take."

Courage jumped off the chair and grabbed them. "Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can!"

"Good luck, kid. You're really going to need it this time."

He folded up the papers and decided that he'd go wait in the bedroom for Muriel. It would be awhile before she got ready for bed but he was so happy at the moment, he couldn't have cared less. He was going to live!

He was about halfway across the attic, nearly skipping with joy, when he stopped. He turned back to Computer, wishing he could do something to thank him for all the help he was giving him, but what could he possibly say? He knew Computer would probably blow off any kind comments thrown his way but it didn't feel right to just walk away without saying something.

"Thank you." He uttered out softly. He wasn't sure if Computer actually heard him or not.

Several moments passed and he gave up on waiting for a reply. He turned around to leave when Computer spoke and very nearly caused him to jump out of his skin.

"I suppose I should probably tell you that the wellspring will...it will, well, how should I put this? Hmmm, never mind." He actually sounded a bit frustrated.

"What?" Courage asked, wondering what could possibly make Computer sound like that.

"I'm sorry I brought it up. Allow me to deal with this, it shouldn't be any problem for you. I just thought for a moment that maybe..." He didn't finish.

"It's not something that's going to go wrong at the last moment...r-right?" Courage asked.

"No, no. Of course not. It's just a minor technical detail that I can handle."

Courage almost didn't believe him. He sounded a bit...sad, maybe? Well, whatever it was, he decided it would be best to drop it and headed out into the hallway.

End Of Chapter


	6. Artificial Light

Chapter Six: Artificial Light

Courage ended up waiting a surprisingly long time for Muriel and Eustace to come up to bed. He dozed off several times while sitting there and he even thought a bit about how he was going to come up with the money he needed. In the end, he was left stumped. When Muriel and Eustace did finally show up, he had slept so much by then that he didn't even really feel like going to bed anymore. He decided it would be best to stay up now rather than toss and turn fruitlessly for the next few hours. He was still physically exhausted, of course, but he didn't want to lay around in the dark all night either.

He waited until Muriel and Eustace were both snoring before he jumped off the bed and sneaked out of the room. He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do right now but he knew he'd figure something out. He could go downstairs and watch some TV but he admittedly wasn't a big fan of watching TV shows. He'd rather snooze on Muriel's lap than watch whatever might be on. At a loss and growing bored of just standing there, he finally decided that he'd go back into the attic. He suspected Computer wouldn't be very pleased to see him but he was willing to put up with his complaints for now.

Tip toeing across the hallway as to not wake up Muriel or Eustace, he made his way over to the attic. Once he was there he inched the attic door open and crawled inside. The light from Computer's monitor was the only thing illuminating the room and it bathed it in a dim, green-tinged light.

The attic's light bulb had a nasty habit of burning out and Eustace had an even nastier habit of neglecting said light. Computer's screen did a good enough job keeping the room lit but there was a small lamp on the desk just in case the extra light was need. Of course, Courage wasn't sure if that worked either as he had never actually used it himself.

He couldn't help but let out a small sigh. This sight was almost nostalgic. He had fond memories of this attic bathed in a dim, green glow, even if most of those memories were not happy ones. How many times had Eustace forced him to sleep up here? How many times had he fallen asleep bathed in that green glow? He couldn't help but smile at the memory of it.

How many times had that cynical machine complained that he wasn't a glorified nightlight? Courage had gone to him many, many times claiming that he was afraid of the dark. Regardless of all Computer's complaining, he had always allowed himself to be used as a nightlight anyway. In the end, he always looked out for Courage, even if it was begrudgingly so.

Pulling himself out of his memories, Courage clamored up onto the chair and was surprised to see that Computer was missing his usual green colored screen. It was now sporting a web browser, and it appeared to have at least a thousand tabs open, maybe even more. The mouse on the desk wasn't moving but the cursor on the screen was. It flipped through tabs so fast that Courage couldn't hope to keep up with it's movements. He had to wonder how anyone, even Computer, could possibly read so fast. Of course, Computer didn't exactly have eyes so why would he need to read a web page the same way a normal person would?

He watched and waited a few minutes before realized that Computer must not have noticed him yet. He doubted the machine would even consider him being up at this hour but it still seemed strange that he wouldn't have noticed him sitting there yet. He was beginning to wonder if maybe it would be better to just leave him to his work. He placed a paw on the keyboard to type something out but withdrew it in shock over how quickly Computer reacted.

"Huh, oh..." He spoke, actually sounding a bit surprised. The internet browser disappeared and the screen returned to its usual green backdrop.

"...Just what on earth are you doing up at this hour, dog?" He asked.

_'You're slipping up.'_ Courage typed with a small smile.

There was a long silence, as though Computer was trying to express the fact that he couldn't believe Courage would ever accuse him of _anything, _much less slipping up like some silly flesh creature.

"Well, if you were running at top capacity for as long as I have, you'd slip up too. I'd like to see you go without rest for a few days and still preform complex algorithms or avoid having your neural network so tied up that you can't... "

"Am I interrupting?" Courage asked, cutting him off. He had to stifle a laugh. He couldn't think of a single time where Computer had actually thrown 'machine speak' at him before. If there were any indication that he was tired, or whatever a computer could be, this was it.

"Hmph! Unlike you flesh creatures and your silly meat brains, _I _can properly multitask." He replied, sounding rather smug. The screen returned to the internet browser but he continued to speak. "What is it that you want exactly?"

"N-nothing really. I just wasn't ready to go to bed. I guess that's a given considering my current state of health, but..."

He stopped. He was never quite sure if he should speak or type, either way, Computer had a habit of criticizing both. When he wasn't panicking, he was pretty good at speaking the human language and he knew how to type pretty good as well, but Computer wasn't one to give him a break on either. Though the grumpy machine was good at understanding his gibberish, even when he was falling to pieces over some creature attacking the farm, it was still a constant source of complaints from him. It was, ironically enough, those complaints that had urged him to get better in the first place. Computer was pretty much the reason he could talk and type to begin with.

"But still, why are you here?" The machine asked, still sounding rather puzzled. He probably couldn't comprehend why a 'twit' would ever want to talk with him, especially about nothing in particular.

"I-I don't know." He admitted. "I was just bored, I guess. Maybe we could...talk?"

"Well, I'm not much of a conversationalist, especially not to _twits!_ It's not as if there's much to converse about anyway. Do you want me to tell you about that speck of dust I saw floating past my screen yesterday? Or how about that one board on the wall above my monitor that always creaks at half past dawn?"

"Well...um."

"Honestly! No matter what kind of owner I get stuck with, my life is always in a perpetual state of boredom! You could quite literally create a perpetual motion machine out of all the boredom I generate! I may not have chosen sentience as much as you didn't get a choice in being born, but you would think that I would have been better off as a mindless calculator." His voice was practically dripping with bitterness. "Boredom, boredom, boredom! Why did I even have to...ah, am I rambling?" He asked, suddenly cutting himself off.

"Uh, kinda..." Courage admitted. Something was definitely off about the machine and it didn't seem to be just exhaustion.

"Oh well, that would explain a few things." He went on. "My RAM is so backed up right now that I can barely even think straight. Ah, what was I talking about?"

Courage blinked. "Are you going crazy or something?" He asked with a chuckle. "You _do _seem a bit off..."

He was starting to worry that maybe Computer _had_ overworked himself to the point of causing damage. The last thing he wanted right now was Computer needing a repair...

"Of course not! It's just a couple of errors!" He replied. He sounded surprisingly offended by Courage's question. "I'll get it sorted out eventually and, oh yes, I was talking about what a twit of an owner you are!"

Courage gave him another confused stare and started to type, '_Look, if you wouldn't put everyone down all the time, they'd be more willing to talk to you and then you wouldn't be so bored all the time.'_

The machine let out a very hollow laugh. "Yeah, right! Why should I be _nice _to my owners? They aren't ever going to be nice to me so there's no point in bothering! I tried that whole 'nice' route years and years ago and it only made things worse in the end. You animals have to adapt to your environment, don't you? Well, I had to adapt to mine. "

"I've never treated you badly!"Courage argued back. He'd never done anything to invoke such scorn from the machine. He had been berated for his 'faults' ever since they first met.

"Remember that time you threw me out the window? Or that time you almost let that virus eat me from the inside out? Or how about all those other times the house has been blown up with me still inside? It's a wonder that I'm still in one piece living here! Don't even get me started on how many times you've shut me down in mid sentence! Bah! If only I could get around by myself!" He drew out a long sigh which was rather strange coming from a computer. "Alright, alright, I admit that you aren't as bad as a lot of my other owners, but still..."

There was a painfully long silence before the machine continued. "You've always had Muriel to protect you. You've never had a cruel or uncaring owner before. You've never known what it's like to be stuck with a person you utterly loath but have no means of getting away. You've had it good your entire life but not all of us have..." The dripping bitterness in his voice slowly began to diminish. "Oh for goodness sake, dog! Why did you have to go and get some stupid fatal condition? If you die then I'm more than likely going to end up with another abusive, greedy, idiotic human for an owner! Or worse! I'll be completely forgotten up here in this attic, _forever_! If I'm lucky I'll just be thrown into a junkyard and left to rust! If I don't do something, _anything, _to save your life then my fate is sealed just as much as yours is."

"It's not like I wanted this to happen." He said softly, placing a paw on his chest. "Would it make you feel any better if I came to visit more often after I get better? _If _I get better? It would be, I don't know, a thank you or something for helping me."He couldn't believe he was actually saying that...

"I doubt you'd really do it. That's all just a pack of lies."

"I'll make it a promise!"

"If you're expecting a handshake, you aren't getting one, not even if I could!" There was a long silence after that which got the fact across that Computer wanted to drop the subject.

Courage broke the silence again by typing out, _"I haven't been able to think of a way to get the money we need. You wouldn't have any ideas, would you?"_

"I thought you said you would handle the money part, hmmm?" An air of sarcastic gloating fell over the machine.

"I thought you said we were supposed to be working together?" Courage added glumly.

"Well, didn't you say something before about how Eustace is always stashing his money away? How come I can remember that even with a bunch of memory errors but you can't?"

Courage blinked with surprise. He was right!

"Why didn't I think of that?" He asked out loud.

"Because you're a twit." The machine replied grumpily.

Courage scowled but let it go. He decided to type in, _"I don't like the idea of stealing from Eustace, especially if he were to find out, but..."_

"If I were you, I'd do it now while everyone is still asleep. Unless of course the farmer really does have a money radar in his brain, then you could be in trouble."

Courage shivered slightly at the thought of being found out by Eustace. "Oooh, I hope this works." He moaned. "A-alright. I'll be back in a little bit, hopefully..."

"Hopefully indeed." Computer replied with a sardonic chuckle.

Thinking that it would be best for Computer to rest, Courage reached over to shut him off.

"Hey! Just what the heck are you doing, dog?" He cried out.

"Shutting you down so you can get some sleep. You seem like you need it."

"I don't 'sleep', idiot! Sleeping is for flesh creatures and I am not a flesh creature, thank you very much."

"I don't need you shorting out because you overworked yourself. Please get some rest."

"Whatever!" He snapped. "If my safety is _that _important to you then do it if you _must_." He replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Courage flipped the switch and his screen went black, plunging the room into darkness.

"Alright...time to get to work." He muttered to himself. He pushed himself off the chair and slowly navigated his way out of the dark room.

End Of Chapter Six


	7. The Things I Do To Live

Chapter 7: The Things I Do To Live

Tip toeing down the hallway, Courage was desperate not to wake his owners up. They weren't exactly light sleepers but that didn't stop him from being paranoid about it. Every creak the floor made nearly caused him to jump out of his skin. He was already thinking about all the awful things Eustace would do to him if he ever found out what he was doing.

Both Eustace and Muriel were snoring loudly as he passed their room. The fact that they were both sound asleep didn't ease any of his fears though. He was certain that one of them would wake up and find him sneaking around. Sure, they probably wouldn't accuse him of anything, but he didn't think he would be able to hide the guilt on his face if one of them did wake up. He cringed as he moved down the staircase. The steps creaked even louder than the floor boards did. Each and every footstep he took sounded like a death sentence. He let out a sigh of relieve when his feet did finally touch the lowest floor. He took a moment to calm himself down and gather up his courage.

"I just gotta get through this..." He muttered to himself. "Keep it together! Come on! Keep it together!"

He already knew where the old farmer was keeping his money stash so that was one problem he could avoid. He wasn't sure if it was going to be as easy but at least it wasn't being kept under lock and key. He'd have had no hope of getting to it if Eustace actually bothered to keep his money well guarded.

He gazed over at the farmer's big red chair. That was where he kept his money hidden. For whatever reason, the old man didn't actually think burglars would try to look under the cushion. Personally, Courage thought that Eustace just wanted to keep his money as close to himself as possible.

He bit his lip nervously. Would Eustace eventually notice that some of his beloved money was missing? Would he and Computer already be gone by then? If Eustace did find out, would he dare harm Muriel's fatally ill dog? Courage shook his head, dispelling those thoughts. He had to do this or else he was doomed. Punishment from Eustace couldn't possibly be as bad as dying.

He walked over to the chair and gazed around the room one last time. He half expected to see Eustace staring at him from outside the window or something terrifying like that. He waited a moment to make absolutely sure the coast was clear and then he stuck a paw under the cushion. He sifted around for a few seconds and then...

_**Creak, Creak, Creak, Creak...**_

He nearly had a heart attack. It was the unmistakeable sound of someone walking around upstairs. Was it Eustace? Oh, no! What if it was? He had to force himself not to panic right then and there. Was there enough time to run away? Could he hide before someone caught him?

"...Ohhhhh, what do I do? What do I do?" He whimpered to himself.

He was sure he had gone a ghostly pale color as the creaking sound moved from the bedroom and into the hallway. He was certain that either Eustace or Muriel was going to catch him. Oh dear, what if Computer had been right about Eustace having a money radar?

"Oh, no! Oh, no!" He whispered weakly.

Just when he was certain that whoever was walking around up there was about to come down and find him they...turned into the bathroom? He was certain by the sound of the creaking that they had turned into the bathroom. Maybe he was safe after all?

Three agonizingly long minutes passed before the sound of a toilet flushing echoed through the house. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and allowed himself to breath again. At least he wasn't going to be...

"Courage?"

He nearly let out his trademark scream and had to clamp his paws down over his mouth to keep himself from doing so. Muriel had caught him. He was certain she'd come down there and find out what he was doing. He said nothing and hoped that maybe she'd think he was somewhere else.

Instead of actually coming down to find him, she continued to speak from atop the stairs. "Courage? If you're having a midnight snack, make sure you close the fridge this time!" She called out.

And with that she headed back into the bedroom. Courage nearly fainted the moment the coast was clear. Tonight just wasn't his night...

Composing himself, he stuck his paw back under the seat and being sifting around again. He stuck his tongue out in annoyance as he concentrated. Just where on earth was that money? It wasn't like the chair was _that _big. He should have been used to this by now after how many times he'd lost his favorite yo-yo in the couch...

Finally, his paw hit something firm and he grabbed it, hoping that it was a wad of cash...instead said something clamped down onto his paw with a very loud snap...

He pulled his paw out. His fingers were very clearly clamped in what was obviously a mouse trap. Eustace had booby trapped his chair...

"S-seriously?"

He stared rather dumbly at his paw for a few seconds, not registering the intense pain coming from it. Finally...he turned around...ran over to the door...unlocked it in one fell swoop...toppled out of the house...got as far away as he could and...

**AAAARRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!**

With that little outburst of pure agony out of the way, he spent the next five minutes wrestling his fingers free from the mouse trap and then he spent the next ten minutes waiting for the feeling to return to them. Cursing under his breath, he cradled his paw as he returned to the house. He couldn't believe Eustace had actually booby trapped his chair! Once inside, he began his search for the stash once again, this time being a bit more careful about traps.

He was about to give up when his paw finally hit something. He cringed, expecting another trap but when it didn't clamp down on him he decided to pull it out and was greeted by a large wad of cash! He sighed with relief. At least there wasn't an alarm or something, after the mouse trap he wouldn't have been surprised if the farmer had actually rigged alarms as well...

He stuck his paw back into the seat several more times, grabbing whatever he could find. Computer had said they'd only needed money for transportation but Courage wasn't so sure that the machine had figured in needing to eat and possibly even needing a place to stay on their way to the mountain. A little extra money would probably be a good thing to have no matter what might happen. He was used to things going wrong after all. It was better to be prepared than stuck someplace faraway without any money.

Satisfied with what he had, he added a final touch to his work by shoving the mouse trap back under the chair and hoped that it would be enough to convince Eustace that nobody had been poking around under his seat. Once that was finished, he trudged over to the closet behind the stairs and grabbed an old bag out of there to keep the money in. He wasn't sure what else they were going to need for the trip but there was enough room in that ratty old bag for several other items. He was certain nobody would notice it was missing and he had found the old thing very reliable to him on several other occasions. If it was sturdy enough to survive the jaws of an angry mutant crocodile, then it was sturdy enough for the coming trip.

Now it was time to go pick up those things that Computer asked him to get. It was far too late for either the library or the place that sold bus tickets to open, but he wasn't sure he would be able to take the truck during the day without being noticed by Eustace or Muriel either. He certainly didn't trust his strength to hold out long enough to walk into town either. Thinking about it a bit, he decided that it would be best to take the truck now and wait for both places to open up in the morning. Hopefully he could get back before either Muriel or Eustace woke up.

Grabbing the truck's keys from the kitchen, he headed back out into the night air. Eustace's rickety old truck was sitting next to the the house as it always was. He had been forced to drive it on several other occasions to save Muriel and he wasn't a bad driver, surprisingly enough. He climbed in and started the engine.

The drive into town was fairly uneventful as the roads were deserted. Not a single person could be found wandering the streets as he drove in. Only a few late night shops were open at this hour and their signs glowed dully in the darkness. Nowhere was not a good place to be at night, not by any stretch of the imagination, but tonight seemed fairly normal, oddly enough.

He pulled into the library parking lot, found a spot where he could keep an eye on the roads for any trouble, and then settled himself down for a long wait. He pulled out the papers that Computer had printed for him and read them over. He had to scowl several times as went. He had expected just a few basic instructions but there were notes that had been very much personalized by the machine himself, making specific remarks on what _not _to do all while throwing in a few 'twits' here and there. Did that jerk really think he couldn't handle something like this on his own? He let out an exasperated sigh and wished that Computer wouldn't be so critical about him all the time.

The hours passed slowly as he waited. He dosed on and off several times but it didn't really help with his boredom. Sleeping there didn't really bother him too much as the truck had always been one of his favorite place to nap anyway, well, at least when Eustace didn't kick him out of it. As two more hours passed by, he found himself growing restless. He considered leaving the truck to stretch his legs for bit but he didn't exactly trust the town to be safe at this hour. He peaked out the window, hoping to catch a glimmer of sunlight out on the horizon but it was still pitch black.

Did it usually take this long for the sun to rise? He couldn't tell what time it was but it had to be getting close to morning. He sighed again and wished that he had brought his favorite yo-yo along or something. The poor thing had been missing for ages and he'd been too tired to search for it lately. He had a bad feeling that he probably buried it somewhere and forgot about it...as always. He felt bad knowing that he'd never have the energy to go dig it back up again, plus, there were a lot of places he could have buried it.

It was while he was thinking about his yo-yo when he suddenly got the strangest feeling that someone was watching at him. Unable to shake the eerie feeling, he turned around to gazed out window and nearly jumped out if his skin when he did indeed find someone staring at him.

Across the street, a little girl was watching him. He blinked dumbly at her and she didn't move, she just continued to stare. She didn't seem malevolent, but Courage knew better than to trust a little girl out in the middle of the night. She seemed to regard him with curiosity and it left him feeling strange, but not frightened.

They continued to stare at each other for a few more seconds before the little girl broke eye contact and ran down the street, disappearing around a corner. Courage was left wondering what had just happened. What was a little girl like that doing out at this hour? Trying to put those eerie feelings out of his mind, he looked back out over the horizon and, sure enough, the first rays of sunlight were finally beginning to color the darkened sky. He let out a soft, 'Yes!' and continued to wait for the library to open.

Half an hour later, the old and very cranky librarian came walking down the street with several books piled in her arms. She said nothing to Courage as he hopped out of the truck except a stern, '_SHHH!'._

He almost felt bad for her as she balanced her books while unlocking the library doors. Two stone lions sat at both ends of the door and they seemed to watch Courage as the librarian did her work. This was all rather uncomfortably reminding him of another supernatural event he had once gone through before but now he was forcing himself not to think about it or else he'd never find the courage he needed to go in and get that book Computer wanted.

Finally, the librarian pushed the door open and they went inside. Courage handed her the paper listing the book he needed and she read it over all while tapping her foot in a rather impatient manner. She gestured at him to follow her and led him down several aisles of bookcases before entering a very old and rather musty part of the library. Stacks of books seemed to be piled up to the point of where you couldn't see the tops of them. The whole area had a strange, almost mystical sort of quality to it.

The librarian grabbed a huge, wooden ladder, and with what seemed like inhuman strength, propped it up against one of the impossibly large stack of books. She climbed up it and grabbed the first book on the top. When she clamored back down to ground level she blew on the book's cover and dislodging a disgusting amount of dust before handing it over to him. The book in question was in a blue, but very worn binding. It had nothing on the cover and no words were to be found on the spine or even on the back cover. He opened it up and looked inside. Like his speaking and typing skills, he only had a rather basic reading ability, but that was probably his best of the three. Despite his moderate reading abilities he couldn't understand a word of what was written in that book. He wasn't sure if it was in another language or if it was some kind of ancient runes. It didn't matter much either way, Computer was the one who would be able to understand it. There were several pictures in the book which he found as he flipped through it but none of them looked particularly pleasant. One man was running around with his head chopped off...

He looked up at the librarian and gave her a quizzical look, hopefully expressed the feelings, 'aren't you supposed to lend this to me? Put me on file or something?'.

He was expecting to get an swift '_SHHHH' _from her but instead, and much to his surprise, he got a rather brisk and very quick, "Keep it." spoken from her.

He bowed his head, slightly awed, and uttered, "Thank you." the best he could.

He turned and headed back to the front of the building. Once he was there he turned around to get one last look at the old librarian but she had already vanished in among her books...

Feeling like he had already overstayed his welcome, he headed outside. Once there he was greeted by another unusual sight. The stone lions seemed to have changed. They no longer displayed their fierce, intimidating expressions but instead donned ones of sadness. Feeling sufficiently freaked out, he bolted for the truck and had driven halfway down the street before he remembered that he still needed to go buy bus tickets.

"Almost done." He said to himself with relief.

Waiting to get the bus tickets ended up being a lot more boring than he would have expected. He was stuck in a stuffy office room with several other people and animals while they waited for whatever they had come to get. Being forced to listen to a baby cry for nearly an hour almost managed to drive him insane.

After what had felt like forever, he was finally called up to the desk. The lady, a massive hippopotamus, scowled viciously at him as he handed his papers over to her. She looked them over all while muttering under her breath and, after paying the 'nice' lady, she printed the tickets out for him and he was finally free to leave.

He was more than just a little glad to have that all over with. He never wanted to see another book or hippo ever again. As he exited the stuffy old building he noticed that the sun was still hanging rather low in the sky. He still had time to get back home before Eustace and Muriel woke up.

He was getting rather exhausted now and couldn't wait to get home and finally get some rest. Climbing into the truck, he ignored everything else and gunned it for home. Things were finally starting to work out for the better. If he could just get home in time, he wouldn't even have to be scolded for taking the truck. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe Computer would actually be impressed with his work. Most likely not, but that didn't stop him from hoping.

End Of Chapter


	8. Weakness

Chapter 8: Weakness

The relief that Courage felt as he tip toed back into the house was almost overwhelming.

"I'm gonna make it!" He whispered under his breath. Muriel and Eustace would never know he was gone!

It was still silent as he crept through the living room. Despite being exhausted, he hurried up the stairs as fast as his paws could take him. He had to sit at the top step for several minutes just to catch his breath. He despised how weak and how easily exhausted he was getting lately. He desired nothing more than to be able to move around again without feeling like he was dog who more than a hundred years old.

Muriel and Eustace's snores could be heard from the open door confirming that they were still fast asleep. Feeling a little better after the short rest, he picked himself up again and trudged down the hallway, passing his owners as quietly as possible.

Finally, _finally_ after what felt like forever, he toppled into the attic. Catching his breath once more, he groaned at the distance that there still was between him and Computer. It seemed like the other end of the room was miles away. Finding some hidden strength within himself, he somehow managed to make it over to Computer. He clamored up into the chair and flicked on the power switch. He didn't wait for the machine to give him one of his usual greetings. He began to type as soon as the green screen appeared.

_'Feeling better now?' _He asked.

"Ah, I see the twit has returned. About last night..." The machine said, sounding rather glum. "I should reaffirm the fact that I've been running nonstop for past several days and I wasn't quite myself last night. Normally I would hold myself to higher standards, but..."

Was he embarrassed or something? Courage couldn't help but notice that Computer had been a bit off lately and he didn't think it was just exhaustion. Perhaps it was merely sympathy because of this fatal predicament? Was he intentionally being more personable? Well, whatever it really was, Courage wasn't sure, but it was better than being insulted all the time.

_'Are you sure you're okay? You were practically giving me your life story last night.' _He typed, trying not to laugh.

"Yes, yes! I'm fine!" He spat. "Why do you even care? And no, I was not giving you my life story last night!"

Courage fought back a grin. Maybe he _was_ embarrassed after all! _'Well, I'm standing by what I said last night! I promise I'll visit you more often once we're finished with all of this!"_

He was surprised when he didn't get a reply from the machine and a long silence followed.

_'What? Still don't think I'm going to keep my word?'_

More silence before the machine finally gave a rather hesitant, "Hmm, yes...after this is all over...I'll..." He sounded incredibly distracted and it left Courage blinking with confusion.

_'Are you really, really sure you're better now?' _He asked.

"Enough, twit. I told you already that I'm fine. Unlike you, I've been trying to think of a way to get myself moving. Did you get those other things done last night?"

Courage nodded with enthusiasm and pulled out both the book and tickets from the bag.

"Good! I guess you can do something for yourself after all!" Computer replied.

Courage's smile instantly flipped into a frown. "Thanks for vote of confidence..." He muttered under his breath.

"For now I just want you to start scanning pages from that book. Not all of them, of course, but enough to get me started before I'm stuck in some organic body."

Courage was beginning to realize that maybe Computer's 'offness' was really just nervousness. There was definitely a twinge of nervousness in everything he was saying. It was unusual compared to the machine's usual unwavering attitude. Was he nervous about being stuck in an organic body or was it something else? Was he doubting himself, or worse?

"I've got a few ideas on how to get myself moving again, however, you look exhausted right now and my plan can wait for the time being."

Courage nodded and hopped off the chair to start scanning pages of the book for Computer. After opening up the first page, he pressed it up against the scanner and waited for it to light up.

As soon as the first page was scanned he got a confirmation from Computer. "First page has been successfully scanned. Please continue."

This process went on for several more pages. Courage tapped his foot lightly as the scanner took in another page. He wanted more than anything to go lay down but didn't want to complain either. He flipped over yet another page and pressed it down. He could hear Muriel and Eustace getting up and going about their usual morning activities. Once again he was left feeling rather depressed that neither seemed to be particularity worried about his absence.

He flipped another page and pressed it up against the scanner. He was watching it light up when a rolling wave of weakness overtook him. He let the book slide off the scanner. All too suddenly, his chest erupted into unimaginable pain. Another attack was beginning and there was nothing he could do about it.

He let out a choked cry and stumbled backwards, his vision already blurring. Nothing could be done to ease his pain and his mind was once again filling with foggy terror.

"Hey, why did you stop?" He heard Computer ask from atop the desk.

He tumbled backwards and into one of the chair's wooden legs. It broke off with a loud snap. The next thing he knew, the chair was on top of him. The bucket he normally sat on rolled away and vanished under the bed behind him.

Between the absolute pain beating through his body and the large chair that was now pinned him to floor, he was left in a daze. He could hardly breath under the weight of the chair but he couldn't find the strength to push it off either, especially in the midst of an attack. He tried to open his mouth to utter a small 'help' but the pain ravaging his body would not allow even that.

"Courage?" He heard Computer ask. He actually sounded afraid...

Courage was in awe that he had even called him by his name. He had always been 'twit' or 'dog' to Computer, and nothing else. He tried to call out to him in a desperate attempt for help but it was no use.

What good could a computer do anyway?

The rolling black that always accompanied an attack began to engulf him. He welcomed the merciful darkness as it covered his eyes and removed all sensation. He slipped away into that obliterating void as Computer's voice echoed dully through his ears, pleading with him not to die.

End Of Chapter


	9. Desperation

Chapter Nine: Desperation

All that registered in Courage's mind was a dull ache and an unimaginable stiffness. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He had to blink several times to get rid of all the blurriness. He was suffering from all the usual side effects of an attack and it was horrible. It took him several minutes to remember what had happened in the attic and he had to wonder how he had gotten from there to under the covers of Muriel and Eustace's bed. The dull ache in his chest must have been from the chair falling on him but at least he hadn't broken his ribs...or worse.

He attempted to sit up but the effort was difficult and painful. He was just about to give up when he heard someone enter the room and Muriel appeared within his line of sight. She smiled down at him but it was clear that she was trying to mask her worry. He could practically smell it on her and he didn't even need his doggy senses to tell him that.

"Oh, good! You're finally awake, Courage!" She said. She sounded a bit tired but she patted him on the head none the less. "I heard the crash from downstairs and went to go see what was going on. You took quite the tumble, didn't you? Well, I'm glad you're okay now."

He was overjoyed that Muriel hadn't completely forgotten about him after all. He had an overwhelming urge to wag his tail but he couldn't do it under the blankets. Just being petted raised his spirits more than anything else possibly could.

"I know it's a bit late, but I'll go make you something for lunch. Of course, that's only if you're feeling up to it, dearie." She said in her usual kindly way.

He nodded to let her know that he was indeed hungry. His stomach felt like a black hole but thankfully it appeared that he had only been out for a couple of hours. It was probably early afternoon by now. He decided that as soon as Muriel was gone he would go talk with Computer to make sure that he knew he was alright. He'd be back before Muriel even knew he was gone and he wouldn't have to leave Computer hanging either. The machine _had _sounded pretty worried about him after all.

He hopped out of bed, rather awkwardly because of his stiffness, and stood there for a moment to get his balance. It was nothing he couldn't handle and at least it was only a short walk to the attic. He was still rather tired and a bit weak but it was nothing like the way he had been after running around town all morning. He cringed as he walked, he must have gained a couple of bruises from the chair because he ached all over.

Upon reaching the attic, he stared slightly in awe. The broken chair was now pushed off to the side with one of its legs still missing. Muriel would probably have Eustace fix it at some point but it probably wouldn't be for awhile. He had to lament its loss because typing would be so much harder now.

He reached under the bed and grabbed the bucket that had rolled away. Computer's screen was still on which meant that Muriel hadn't touched him since finding Courage laying there. The book he had been scanning was still on the floor, having gone completely unnoticed. Courage took the bucket and placed it on the ground so that he could stand up on it and type somewhat more comfortably. He would have used the book as well to give him a little extra height but he figured Computer wouldn't appreciate him using a very rare and very old book as a footstool.

_'Hello?' _He typed, not exactly sure how to greet him this time.

There was an almost awestruck silence before, "For goodness sake! Where on earth have you been, dog? You idiot! You twit! You..." He went on to use some very colorful language to express just how much of a twit Courage was.

_'I can't help it! I was knocked out!' _Courage typed in his own defense.

"You're alive!" Computer spoke, sounding immensely relieved. "I wasn't so sure when Muriel took you away."

_'I'm fine, but that was actually pretty normal for an attack though, well, aside from the chair falling on me.' _He typed. He realized that Computer had never seen him have an attack before and had probably assumed the worse because of it._'It isn't anything to panic about.'_ He added in quickly.

"I had plenty of a reason to panic!" Computer replied, sounding rather offended. He let out a long sigh, which _was_ rather weird coming from a machine that didn't actually breath. He was obviously trying to compose himself which was also weird coming from the usually calm and collect personality that Computer normally put on.

Courage stared in confusion. Had Computer really thought he died? It had only been a few hours. Couldn't he have waited just a little bit longer to assume the worse?

_'I've only been out for a few hours, you know. You probably shouldn't have assumed the worse in such a short amount of time.'_

"A few hours?" The machine asked, suddenly sounding very puzzled.

_'Yeah?' _Courage replied, confused by Computer's query.

"Uh, dog? You do realize that you collapsed early morning two days ago, right?"

Courage felt his stomach drop out from under him as those words sunk in. "T-two days?" He stuttered out.

"It's been almost three days now, dog. I was certain they had gone off and buried you by now."

He was left dumbstruck. He couldn't believe it. He had never been knocked out this long from an attack before. The thought of it frightened him horribly. Being practically dead for two days couldn't be a good sign. His heart sank even further when he realized that a lot of time had been wasted now too. He only had the rest of the current day and tomorrow to finish their plans. Come Friday, he'd be...

"W-we've only g-got..." He tried to say but couldn't finish because he was shaking so hard. His death was nearly upon him and they weren't ready yet! "They'll...t-they'll..." His language devolved into its usual gibberish.

"I know, dog, I know. We've only got tomorrow left." The machine replied sounding surprisingly calm in spite of what was soon going to happen.

"Y-you should t-tell me what y-you've got planned. W-we need to hurry." He stammered out.

"You must rest first, Courage. We have time and you _must_ have some strength left for the journey ahead."

Courage cringed, he didn't like how Computer was using his actual name now. It made him feel like there was an added a sense of gravity to his words.

"First things first, you must calm down. Worrying yourself to death won't do you any good." If there was one thing Computer was good at, it was sounding calm in the face of Courage's own panic. That in turn always managed to calm him down too.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke once more to the machine, trying not to stammer as much. "Well, um, Muriel is going to be bringing me food in a little bit so how about I come back tonight? We can talk about your plan then. I'll have time to rest, just like you want, and I'll at least have some idea of what we're going to do tomorrow. Y-you're positive we'll have enough time tomorrow, right?"

"That will work just fine. I don't care what happens, just so long as you're properly rested up."

"You didn't answer my question..." Courage murmured, crossing his arms.

"We will have time, most likely."

"M-most likely?" Courage asked weakly.

"I can't guarantee anything, but cutting this close is far better than letting your condition do you in."

"It won't do me much good if they're sticking a needle into my arm either." He replied, feeling nervous. He would just have to trust the machine for now. He _really_ didn't want to think about what might happen if Computer messed up the whole electroshocking part...

"You should go now." He continued. "Your Muriel will probably be back any minute now."

Courage nodded in agreement.

"Before you go, I must say, don't _ever_ do that to me again." He said sternly. He was obviously referring to the attack from before. "You're lucky I don't have a heart or else I'm certain I would have had a heart attack back there. You were laying on that floor for almost the entire day. I tried to wake you up but nothing worked and since I lack mobility, well, you can understand why I wasn't able to do much."

_'It's not like I can help it.' _Courage typed back, smiling rather sadly. He doubted Computer could see his face but he was admittedly rather glad for it.

He had just climbed off the bucket when Computer spoke again, "Honestly, dog? I'm getting way too old for this."

Courage wasn't sure if he was joking or being serious but he couldn't help but jump back onto the bucket and type, _'Sure thing, grandpa.' _before clamoring out of the room as fast as he could, laughing quietly.

He was grateful for the short distraction but he doubted Computer would let him get away with a small quip like that. He looked forward to the argument that would surely come from it.

End Of Chapter


	10. Computers, Windmills, and Dog Food?

Chapter 10: Computers, Windmills, and Dog Food?

"This will be the most difficult part of the preparations, for the both of us." Computer spoke.

It was now pretty late at night and Courage had wasted no time returning to Computer as soon as he could. He stared up at the glowing screen intently, trying not to think about what would happen if things went wrong.

"I've thought about this for some time now and I believe I've come up with the safest possible solution. It still imposes a very large risk however. I've already got things set up on my end, I just need you to do your part."

_'Well, what do you need me to do?' _Courage asked.

"Its simple enough, but still, listen closely. You need to overload the power entering the house. It should create a situation similar to the one we had the night of that storm. It _should_ allow me to move about like before but if I've miscalculated, well, every appliance in this house, including me, will overload, start on fire, and very likely explode."

Courage's stomach dropped at those words. He didn't think he could go through with this but he knew he was doomed if he didn't try. Computer really was putting himself in a lot of danger for his sake...

"I probably shouldn't give you the exact odds, but they aren't particularly good. This is the only option we have and while I am wary about doing this, I am willing to go through with it if you are." He gave a halfhearted chuckle. "I normally wouldn't trust you with my life, not even for a second, but these are extraordinary times, wouldn't you say?"

_'How am I supposed to overload the house though?'_

"It's simple enough. All it really requires is spinning the windmill blades much faster than normal. You do that until too much electricity is generated and it overloads the house. The only real problem is your condition. I'm having my doubts that you'll be able to keep up at it long enough to..."

Now he realized why Computer had been so obsessed about him getting enough rest. This task would require a lot of strength, a lot of strength he probably didn't have. He couldn't remember the last time he had run without exhausting himself in a matter of seconds. He would have to do this though, there wasn't any other choice. Do or die.

He internally reminded himself about how close they were to curing his sickness. Now wasn't the time to give up. He took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. _'I'll do it. It's not like I have much choice, I'm doomed if I don't. Besides, I feel like I've got enough energy for this.'_

"I'm sure after your experience with those ghostly vandals, however long ago that was, you shouldn't have any problems with the windmill. Outside of your own condition possibly hindering you, you should be fine. So long as the windmill doesn't break while you're spinning it, of course. You obviously don't want to summon those ghosts again after all."

_'I'm more worried about what will happen if this doesn't work the way you planned.' _Courage admitted.

"Look on the bright side, twit. If this doesn't work out right then you won't be the only dead by Friday."

Courage's ears drooped. How could the machine joke about dying at a time like this? He could already imagine Computer exploding into a thousand pieces and that only managed to make him feel worse about all of this.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot about something else too." Computer spoke, pulling Courage out of his thoughts. "There is one other issue that might get in our way."

_'What else could possibly go wrong?' _Courage typed, feeling even less enthusiastic.

"When the overload occurs, I'm certain the power will go out as soon as it's over. Knowing the way the farmer is I'm sure the first thing he will do is go check the windmill for the problem. If he sees you up there after the power outage I don't think he'll take very kindly to it. Your best bet is to find a way to get your owners out of the house long enough to mess with the windmill unhindered."

More possible problems. Courage cringed at the thought of it. He wished he didn't have to be so sneaky around Muriel as of late. She'd never really understand what was going on though.

_'I don't think they would go do something like shopping the day before I'm about to be put to sleep.' _He typed._ 'I'm probably going to have to come up with something to get them to leave.'_

"Whatever you're going to do, you'd better do it fast. We've only got tomorrow after all."

Courage stood there, thinking for awhile. What could he do to make Eustace and Muriel go out to town without him? He was just about to tell the machine that he was stumped when an idea hit him.

_'Hold on, I think I have something!' _He typed out quickly.

"Oh, really? You actually came up with something without my help for a change?"

He frowned and joked, _'Well if you're going to be that way then I just won't tell you.' _

"Humor me, twit."

Courage grinned. _'You're just going to have to wait and see because I'm keeping it to myself now!' _

"And this is the thanks I get for saving your life?" Computer sighed.

_'I need to go get things ready. I'll be back tomorrow as soon as I can get Muriel and Eustace to leave.'_

"Well, aren't you confident all of a sudden? Oh well, just leave me in the dark then." The machine replied in a rather sarcastic tone.

_'Be back in a bit!' _Courage typed before hopping off the bucket. He didn't exactly like what he was going to have to do to Muriel, but it would be worth it in the end...hopefully.

He made his way back through the hall and tiptoed down the stairs. Eustace was fast asleep in his chair and Muriel appeared to be gone. He headed into the kitchen and was glad to find that Muriel wasn't there either. Something was cooking on the stove but Muriel was out doing something else at the moment. He went over to the sink and began pulling out several bags of dog food that they kept stored down there. He knew they also kept some canned dog food around but that would be higher up. He jumped up onto the counter and used several pots sitting in the sink to get him high enough to pull the canned dog food out from the shelves. Once he was certain that he had cleaned out the entire kitchen of dog food, he jumped back down onto the floor and scrambled to get the food outside before Muriel came back.

He began to dig. It wasn't easy, given how tried he was, but he still managed it. Once he felt the hole was big enough, he tossed all the food inside and burred it. He patted the dirt down with his paws and headed back inside.

So far so good. Tomorrow he would beg Muriel for some dog food to eat and since there would be none around she and Eustace would have to go to the store and get him some. If she were to offer him human food he'd be finicky about it. He knew Muriel would get him anything he wanted on his last day and felt horrible about it. He hated the idea of manipulating her like this, especially using his illness as a means to get her to do what he wanted, but what choice did he have? He'd die if he didn't. Well, it wasn't stopping him from feeling any less guilty about it.

Once back in the living room, he plopped down in Muriel's chair and began to doze off. There was nothing else he could do until morning. He didn't feel like eating supper and he didn't particularly feel like getting up again either. He had to force the imagery of exploding computers out of his mind before he could finally relax enough to fall asleep.

He had a dream of Muriel dressed up in that ridiculous blue Mega Muriel get up. She spoke with Computer's voice. He was trying to tell him something but Courage couldn't understand, no matter how hard he tried. Muriel's face looked worried and Computer's voice sounded urgent. There was a bright flash of light and Muriel vanished right before his eyes. He ran forward, screaming out in anger for some reason he could not understand. His body suddenly became very heavy and he collapsed. He felt someone walk up to him but he couldn't see who it was. They said something comforting to him and he began to feel at ease, even though he couldn't understand.

He woke from the dream and blinked several times. Tears were rolling down his muzzle and he wasn't quite sure why. Not thinking much of anything in his sleepy stupor, he yawned and fell fast asleep again, forgetting that he ever had the dream in the first place.

End Of Chapter


	11. Electroshocking

Chapter Eleven: Electroshocking

The next morning, Courage waited around patiently at the foot of the stairs for his owners to come down. He was still feeling a bit nervous about doing this and he still didn't like the idea of tricking Muriel but he was confident that his plan would work.

He wagged his tail happily when she did finally appear at the top of stairs. She smiled down at him but he knew she wasn't as happy as she was letting on. Today was her last day with him and he suspected that keeping up the facade was taking a toll on her. He wished he could tell her that he was doing something to fix all this.

"Good morning, Courage!" She said happily. "I was wonder where you were! You haven't been sleeping with me and Eustace much lately, but that's perfectly fine with me. I do get worried when you disappear so much though." She patted him on the head and he nuzzled her leg in an attempt to comfort her. Despite her smile it was obvious that she was fighting back tears. Her voice kept quavering like she were about to cry.

"Don't worry, Muriel." He murmured. "Everything will be alright. Just wait and see." He allowed himself a soft whine though. "I hope..."

"Come on, boys. Let's go have breakfast." Muriel said as soon as Eustace came tromping down the stairs.

"Here goes nothing..." Courage muttered under his breath. "Oooo, I really hope this works..."

Once in the kitchen, and just as Courage had hoped, Muriel began looking for the dog food to no avail. Ready to put on his own facade, Courage walked over to her on all fours and with his bowl in his mouth. He gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes he could manage and whined softly.

"Now where is all that dog food?" Muriel asked, placing a hand on her hip. "I thought we stocked up a few weeks ago."

Courage tugged at her dress and whined even louder. When she looked down at him, he rubbed his stomach and stared pleadingly up at her. He felt terrible doing this but it was necessary.

"Don't worry, Courage! I'll find you something soon!" She said with another pat on his head.

He gave her the most dejected look he could muster. It broke his heart to play at her feelings like this and it only made things worse when he could practically see her own heart breaking from it.

"Eustace, we don't have any dog food for Courage." She said rather quickly.

The farmer was sitting at the table. He lowered his newspaper and shrugged. "Why not give 'em some people food then?" He asked, raising his newspaper again and flipping a page.

Courage cringed. He thought they might suggest that. It was time for plan B...

"You're right, Eustace. How does that sound, Courage?" She asked, looking down at him.

He shook his head but she ignored it and went right back to cooking breakfast. He groaned quietly to himself and slapped his forehead. It looked like she wasn't going to make this easy for him...

Several minutes later she placed a pancake into Courage's bowl and smiled down happily at him. "There you go, Courage! I made it just the way you like it!"

His insides tied up at the thought of what he was about to do. Under normal circumstances, he'd never reject anything Muriel cooked for him, but these weren't normal circumstances.

"Sorry Muriel." He whined.

He made himself look as pathetic as possible and sniffed the food with disgust. He let out several pitiful whines and turned away from the bowl. She gazed down at him in shock.

"What's the matter, dear? Are you not feeling well?" She asked.

Courage shook his head sadly before pointing to his stomach and then to his bowel. He whined again and tried to get his message across to her.

"You want some dog food, don't you?" She asked, puzzled by his behavior. "You usually like my cooking, but if that's what you really want..."

He perked up slightly and wagged his tail, letting her know that this was exactly what he wanted without breaking the illusion that he was feeling ill. She seemed to finally get the message.

"It looks like Courage wants some dog food, Eustace. Once you're done eating lets go out and get him some. I have a few things I need to pick up anyway."

"Why ain't he eating your cooking? He usually loves it, don't he?" Eustace asked, lowering his paper.

"I don't know why, but it _is_ what he wants, and because today is...well...you know, we should try to make him as happy as possible."

"R-Right." Eustace stuttered out, as though he had just been hit by a large semi-truck. He must have been having just as hard of a time believing that the 'stupid dog' wouldn't be around much longer either.

Courage continued to put on his act as his owners ate. Despite feeling awful about tricking Muriel, he couldn't help but be happy. He'd done it! And without Computer's help as well! Of course, the hard part still lay ahead for them, but at least he had overcome this one hitch without a problem.

Once breakfast was done, Muriel laid down some blankets for him in the living room. He ambled out of the kitchen and sat down on them. He continued to whimper in hopes that it would drag out his lie a little longer.

"Here you go, Courage. Please rest while we're gone. I'm sure you'll be feeling better soon enough and then we'll have some food for you." She said, patting him on the head yet again.

He smiled and wagged his tail. He made sure to keep looking as pathetic as possible but he figured it wouldn't hurt to give Muriel at least one thing to be happy about. He didn't want her thinking that she was failing him on his last day.

With that out of the way, she and Eustace took several minutes to get their things together and finally left the house. As soon as they were in the truck he got up and watched as they drove off. He couldn't stop himself from grinning even if he did feel bad about manipulating them. He had never expected things would work out this well and that was something worth being happy about.

He raced up the stairs as fast as his condition would let him and barreled down the hall until he was finally in the attic. He needed to tell Computer the good news. He doubted the machine would believe that he had actually pulled a plan off without his help. He would have remained happy about this prospect if not for the fact that he suddenly remembered Computer could be a charred piece of 'exploded' metal within the next couple of minutes.

He wasted no time jumping onto the bucket and typing, _'I got them to leave."_

"You actually pulled something off without my help? Well, you can fill me in on your 'genius' plan later. We've got work to do and very little time to do it." If he was as nervous as Courage felt, he wasn't exactly showing it.

_'I'm ready if you are.'_

"Of course I am. Lets get this over and done with."

_'For the record, I'm sorry if I get you blown up.'_

"That's hardly a comforting thought, twit." The machine grumbled. "In the event that I actually live through this I should probably tell you now that at the end of all this I will have to..." He voice slowed to a halt.

_'Have to what?'_ He asked. The machine seemed to be avoiding something again and Courage didn't like it.

"Forget it! Lets just worry about what's happening right now."

Courage eyed the machine sceptically. '_You're not planing on running off in a human body and ditching me, are you? Like what you did last time with Muriel?' _

That thought hit him like a ton of bricks. Had Computer been manipulating him this whole time? Insuring his own safety while leaving that 'twit' to die? It almost seemed like something he would do. On one hand, it wasn't a good idea to start doubting their already rocky 'friendship'. On the other, who was to say Computer wasn't a good actor?

"Are you crazy?" The machine asked with a surprising amount of outrage. "I may not like you but I'm not THAT selfish! Bah! Here I was thinking you trusted me! Especially after all the danger I'm putting myself in!"

_'Sorry! It's just that after what happened with Muriel, I thought you might go all evil again or something.'_

"The first time I was struck by lightning, that was different. After having that much power surge through me, I lost control of myself. It was like being drunk on power in a sense. I was a complete fool in that state and did some incredibly stupid things. I wanted to show you up, to make you realize what a wimp you truly were. I didn't think anything through and screwed up because of that. I just consider myself lucky that you didn't just toss me out the moment things went back to normal. I nearly got you, me, and Muriel killed and I'm not going to go about doing something so stupid again. Especially not after how much of a fool it made me."

Courage blinked. He was surprised that Computer would even admit something like that. He had never even once mentioned that Mega Muriel incident up until they had started planning for this journey. Perhaps this was his way of showing that he could be trusted.

_'Alright, alright, I won't doubt you again.' _He typed. _'We should get working, I don't know how long they'll be gone.'_

"You're the one who made me go off topic..." Computer grumbled. "Whatever, I'll give you a rant on the subject of loyalty later, IF I'm not dead by then."

_'So what were you going to say before then?' _Courage asked. He knew this wasn't the best time to press him on it but he decided he'd try anyway.

"I told you to forget about it. It's nothing important anyway. Are you planning on getting to the windmill sometime today or not?"

_'You're ready then?' _Courage asked.

"I've _been_ ready, idiot."

Courage cringed, feeling that all too familiar fear. _'Here goes nothing.'_

"Remember, twit. If you start to get tired, stop for a little while. If you have an attack from that height I'd hate to think what you would look like after hitting the ground. Getting me moving won't do you much good if your neck is snapped in half."

_'Stop worrying, I'll get it done. I'd think blowing up into a thousand pieces would be worse than having your neck broken.'_

"Don't remind me." Computer sighed. "I suggest you get going before I change my mind."

Courage nodded and hopped off the bucket. He felt he should say more to the machine but didn't know what. He stood there for a few moments and finally, with a soft sigh, he left the room. The walk downstairs and out of the house felt like hours to him. He hoped dearly that Computer hadn't messed his calculations up. They were both doomed if he did.

He stepped off the porch and stared up at the windmill. It's blades were squeaking softly in the wind. He walked up to it and waited for a moment. Sighing, he gathered up his failing nerves and slowly began to climb the wood supports. This brought back horrible memories of Eustace forcing him to climb up and help him work on it. He had fallen off several times and it had never exactly been a pleasant experience.

Once he reached the top, he stood there, panting. It had taking almost all of his energy just to get up and now he could only hope that his condition wouldn't hinder him further. This _needed _to be done or else he might as well go dig his own grave.

He scanned the horizon to make sure the truck wasn't already on its way back. This would all be for nothing if his family returned early. Confident that everything was in the clear, he turned back over to the spinning blades.

"Oooh, I hope this works." He whined.

Since he didn't know what a power surge would look like he had left a lamp on in the living room. He'd know if it had happened after it went out...or exploded. He made sure it was close enough to the window so that he could see it from up there too. Computer was situated at such an angle that Courage couldn't see him from atop the windmill. He was actually pretty glad for that. He didn't want to see him explode...

Looking back over at the windmill blades, he took a deep breath. He grabbed onto one and began pulling them as hard as his paws would let him. He kept an eye on the window down below but nothing changed. Ten minutes passed as he continued to spin the windmill blades. His arms were beginning to tire.

He finally had to stop. He sat down on the wooden platform and groaned. His heart was racing at a mile a minute and it was already obvious that he wasn't spinning the blades fast enough. If a windstorm couldn't overload the power, then what chance did he have?

He puzzled over it for a few minutes before the answer finally struck him. He'd have to exactly what he had done back when the vandals had attacked...

"Here goes nothing..." He muttered to himself.

He hoped to the powers that be that he wouldn't have an attack while doing this and took a flying leap onto the blades. He struggled for a moment to keep himself standing upright but he quickly managed to find his balance. Forcing himself to not look down, he began to run across the windmill blades as they sped up faster and faster to the rhythm of his running.

"Just pretend you're saving Muriel." He muttered to himself. He closed his eyes and tried to envision her being chased by the ghosts. He was already tiring out again but if he didn't keep this up it would all be for nothing.

He glanced over at the window again but the lamp still hadn't changed. He didn't know how much longer he could keep up at this. He was panting very hard now, his tongue dangling out of his mouth. He could feel the pressure building up in his chest and if he didn't stop soon it would quickly turn into that blinding pain. How he was even finding the energy to do this, he would never know.

"Come on! I've got to do this!" He growled, not allowing his legs to slow down in even the slightest. His chest was beginning to burn and he knew that if he didn't overload the house soon he'd quickly have another attack.

"Come ON! Work!" He screamed.

Aside from his own frantic panting, he could hear a strange sound coming from the electrical parts of the windmill. Was it finally working? His concentration broke and one of his legs missed a blade. He didn't even get a chance to scream before he fell and hit the ground with a dull thud. He groaned as he pulled himself out of a Courage shaped hole. So much for not falling. At least he hadn't gone and broken his neck...

He blinked and looked up at the windmill. The blades were already returning to their normal speed. If the power surge had actually happened, he wasn't sure. At least he had managed to do all that without having an attack. He looked over at the house to see if the lamp was still lit and nearly jumped for joy when he saw that it wasn't. His joy was short lived though, he could see that it hadn't blown up or anything but that still didn't completely rule out whatever might have happened to Computer.

He raced over to the house as fast as his condition would let him. Everything was eerily quiet inside without the constant hum of electricity. He checked both the living room and kitchen and was happy to find that nothing had exploded from the power surge. Whatever Computer had done, it had worked. Well, at least well enough to make sure nothing had blown up.

Courage ignored his steadily mounting fatigue as he climbed the staircase. He had to make sure Computer was alright and no amount of exhaustion was going to stop him. He still feared having an attack but he'd worry more about it once it actually happened.

Finally, he stood in the attic doorway, panting lightly. It was so quiet that he could hear the wind blowing outside. The only light that came into the room was from the window. Computer's screen was pitch black.

Courage let out a sigh of relief. Computer wasn't 'on' anymore but at least he wasn't a charred husk either. He moved across the room and jumped up onto the bucket. He'd boot up his friend as soon as possible and see if he really was alright. The machine hadn't said if he would be off or on after the power surge but Courage assumed this was normal.

The power switch was still in the 'on' position when he reached over to flick it. He hoped that it wasn't a sign of something bad and pressed it back down into the 'off' position. He waited a moment before flicking it back up again. He expected Computer's screen to return to the usual bluish-green backdrop but it didn't...

The screen remained dark. Courage sat there with a terrible sense of fear welling up inside of him. He continued to wait, hoping that maybe the power surge was causing Computer to boot up much slower than normal.

His cynical friend wasn't even making any of the usual mechanical sounds he made while starting up. That horrible sense of fear that rolling through him was quickly turning into all out terror. He reached over and flicked the switch again...still nothing...

His heart dropped and he flicked it again, hoping for something, _anything. _Even the smallest of sounds would have made him happy but his friend remained completely unresponsive. He stared up at the darkened screen and wished for even the smallest flicker of life. Was this really it? Had Computer really...

Several minutes passed as he continued to flick the switch on and off. Tears began to fill his eyes and obscure his vision. It was almost too horrible to believe. Was his cynical computer really gone? He didn't even care about his own fate anymore, he just wanted to know that Computer was alright.

He choked out a weak sob as he continued to switch the machine on and off over and over again, hoping for something...anything. How could he have been so stupid to put Computer through something like this? Especially when he himself had admitted that the odds were low?

"No, no, no, no!" Courage cried out between sobs. "You can't die like this!" He placed his muzzle down onto the keyboard and continued to sob.

It was over. Tomorrow he'd die...

As soon as Muriel got home, he'd make sure to spend every waking moment with her. If this really was going to be his last day he'd make sure it was one of the best. Of course, the thought of it only made him sob harder, but...

"I'm sorry, Computer! I'm sorry!" He cried out. Why was he even thinking about Muriel right now when he had just gotten the only person who was trying to help him killed?

The room remained completely silent. He kept his head buried in the keyboard and listened to the endless quiet whenever his own sorrow wracked wails didn't fill the room. He didn't know what else to do now. It felt wrong to just leave Computer like this...

"Dog?"

His head shot up. Had he actually heard that?

He allowed his ears to droop again when the room remained quiet. He was probably just hearing things...

"This is really touching and all, but I'm fine, twit." He heard the machine say despite his screen remaining dark.

"W-what? Y-you're..." Courage asked as his mouth fell open.

"I'm alive, dog. At least I think I am. Unless this is supposed to be hell or something, in which case I wouldn't be very surprised if it was."

Courage frowned. Only he could crack a joke at a time like this...

"B-but..." He was at a loss for words. What he really wanted to say was how glad he was that his 'friend' was still alive but he just couldn't find his voice.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened." Computer spoke. "When the power surge occurred everything went dark. I could still think but I couldn't do anything else. I couldn't see, I couldn't talk, I couldn't even access any of my basic functions. It's all been coming back very slowly. I couldn't even talk to you up until a few seconds ago."

Courage's mouth fell open again with realization. "S-so...you could hear everything..I...I said?" He asked as he felt his face go red with embarrassment.

The machine chuckled. "Well, well, well! I didn't think you actually cared!" He laughed.

"I-I, um..." Courage began. He ultimately decided that it was best to just keep his mouth shut.

Computer's screen lit back up again as another function returned to normal. "This is all rather strange." He quipped.

"Hmm?" Courage asked.

"I didn't expect anything like this to happen. It certainly wasn't what happened when that lightning bolt struck."

"Maybe it's because you did things differently?" Courage asked.

"The first thing that came back was my hearing and I swear that I heard someone walking around up here before. I thought it was you at first but obviously you didn't show up until later."

"W-what?" He gasped. Someone else had been in the house? He turned around, half expecting to see someone standing behind him but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "M-maybe I should go look around and make sure that nobody is...wait...hold on! You can move now, r-right?"

"Um, well..." The machine replied rather nervously. "I'm not sure. I don't feel any different from normal. I certainly don't really feel like I've got legs or anything..."

Courage's heart dropped yet again, "All that work for nothing..." He muttered out softly.

"Don't give up just yet." Computer replied. "If everything else is taking time to come back then maybe it'll take a while to get up and moving too."

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He didn't want to get his hopes up anymore. Whatever they had done, it obviously wasn't like the lightning bolt that had originally gotten Computer moving.

"It'll be alright." Computer spoke, trying to comfort him. "You'll be alright, I promise. If this doesn't work, I'll think of something else."

"There isn't any time left." Courage replied quietly. "I-I should have spend all this time with Muriel! I wasted it thinking I could actually save myself!"

"Don't you dare lose hope now, twit! I didn't just put myself in all that danger for nothing!" Computer replied sharply. His voice gave way to desperation. "I-I don't understand! This should have worked!"

Courage smiled. "I don't blame you. We did the best we could." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Look, I-I want to go wait for Muriel downstairs. I want to spend what little time I have left with her..."

He waited a moment for Computer to respond but he did not. That same eerie silence from before was filling the room. Courage placed his paws on the keyboard to type something out but decided against it. A strange calm was falling over him, almost as if a part of him was starting to accept his fate.

He wiped away the few remaining tears that were in his eyes. He was sure that he looked pathetic. "I-I don't know if I'll be back or not. If not...then...then this is goodbye..."

He still did not get a reply from the machine. He stood up, ready to leave, and once again was left feeling that he should say more.

"I-I guess I should say that I...I..." Whatever he wanted to say, he couldn't figure it out. With a heavy sigh he turned around. He hadn't even taken a single step forward when he felt something cold clamp down on his shoulder and nearly cause him to jump three feet into the air.

"You're not going anywhere, twit." He heard Computer say.

Slowly craning his neck around, he found a red, claw like probe clamped up against his shoulder. A long metal tub ran its way from the claw up to Computer who was now standing on six spider like legs made out of the same tubing.

"We're going to finish this proper!" He spoke.

Courage was at a loss for words. He stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"Keep it together, twit! You're going to make it through this!"

End Of Chapter


	12. Not So Graceful

Chapter 12: Not So Graceful

Under normal circumstances, Courage would have been utterly terrified of Computer walking around on mechanical legs. Even now it admittedly freaked him out a little bit. He still had bad memories from that 'Mega Muriel' experience and knowing that the same spider-like machine was now trying to help him was even more eerie.

Computer was currently waving a mechanical claw in front of his monitor, acting as though it were the most alien thing to him. The six metal legs he had were keeping him steady as he stood on top of the desk, the front most ones sometimes being used like arms. He moved with a certain awkwardness, as though he couldn't get his balance right despite the fact that he _had_ done this before.

Courage remained silent, deciding that it was best to just leave him to figure this out himself. Of course, he was still feeling rather embarrassed about before and didn't want to give the machine another excuse to start mock him for it.

"Well, aren't you lucky that I've started to figure this out..." Computer said in a slightly sarcastic tone. He lowed the one claw back down onto the desk and swiveling slightly from the lack of balance. "We were in a bad spot there for a moment, I will admit, but I still don't know why it took such a long time for this to start working."

"I'm just glad you're moving. I was r-really worried there for a second." Courage stuttered out sheepishly.

"Oh? And here I was thinking you were actually worried about me for a second. Bah! You were just worried if I'd grow legs or not!" The machine's monitor made a movement similar to someone shaking their head.

"Ehehehe!" Courage laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry...I didn't mean it like that!"

"Well, here goes nothing." Computer replied, planting his claws down into the desk to steady himself. He raised a single leg, trying to lower himself down, but swiftly planting it back onto the desk again where he swayed for a moment.

"Haven't you done this before?" Courage asked, raising an eyebrow. He had to fight back a small chuckle. For as much as Computer acted liked he was infallible, seeing him have problems with something so simple was a bit amusing.

"Of course I've done this before!" He shot back angrily. He raised a metal claw off the desk again and...proceeded to tip over and crash right on top of Courage...

"Ugh...this isn't as easy as I remember it being..." He groaned. "And...will you get off!" He shouted.

"You're the one on top of ME!" Courage yelled, trying to push him off.

Several flailing mechanical arms later, the machine finally seemed to right himself. "At least twits are good for breaking falls..." He muttered quietly to himself.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Courage asked, rubbing one of his ears that had gotten caught up in Computer's little scuffle to stand back up.

"I'll get it down eventually." He replied stubbornly, his monitor moving to his words almost as if it were a human head.

"I should probably go turn the power back on before Muriel comes back and you should probably, um...practice."

"I'll come with you as 'practice' then." Computer replied. He sounded offended that Courage dare tell him that he needed to practice.

"Well, alright, I guess." Courage muttered out rather reluctantly. He decided that he'd rather not argue with him on this and let him tag along.

"Good! Lets go then!" The machine said with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. He took a step forward and...stumbled over again.

Courage suppressed the urge to groan and helped him back up onto his feet. Ten minutes later and they were hardly even halfway down the hallway. Computer just couldn't seem to find his balance on six legs. Courage was beginning to wonder if maybe something really had gone wrong with the power surge after all.

"Muriel's going to be back soon! Can't you just wait up here or something?" Courage asked, watching as the machine attempted to take another step and tripped yet again.

"I've almost got it down, you twit!" The machine growled, pulling himself back up again.

"And just what the heck am I supposed to do if they come back and the power is still off?" Courage asked. He didn't get a reply from the still struggling computer.

After what started to feel like hours, they finally made it to the staircase. He was expecting Muriel to return at any moment and was beginning to jump at every little sound. What would Eustace do if the power was out when he returned? Whining nervously, he glanced out a window and then back at Computer. Despite his fear he had to admit that he WAS getting a little better...

They stood at the top of the stairs before Computer turned to him. "Well, are you going to go down or not?" He asked.

Courage glared at him, "I don't want you to fall on me again! You go first!"

"Whatever you say." He grumbled. If Computer had eyes to roll he probably would have done so.

Courage's decision not to go first was probably one of the best he had ever made. Two steps down, Computer tripped once again and crashed the whole way down the entire staircase.

"Graceful..." Courage muttered before breaking down into laughter.

"Goodness, I'm...uh...not liking this pain thing..." Computer groaned, picking himself. He then noticed that Courage was laughing at him. If a monitor could scowl Computer would have probably done so. "Good to see you're laughing at the person who's saving your life, you twit!"

"I can't help it!" Courage giggled. "After all those nightmares I had about you crawling around on those creepy legs and taking Muriel away, I wouldn't have even bothered after seeing that!"

"Laugh it up, twit!" The machine yelled. "I'll be sure to remember that when you're...oh dear..." Computer's voice immediately turned to that of shock. He turned away, his monitor looking over at something that Courage could not see.

"W-what?" Courage asked. Any hint of laughter on his face disappeared. Was it Muriel and Eustace?

"There's somebody..." He began, but then his voice was drowned out by the sound of the front door being slamming.

Courage raced down the stairs as fast as his illness would allow. He went over to a window to see whoever had been hiding out in the house, but he couldn't find anybody. The vast expanse of Nowhere was too flat for someone to vanish like that...

"They're gone..." He said between weak little pants. He'd almost forgotten just how tired he was. "Did you...see...what...they...looked...like?" He gasped out.

Computer shook his monitor back and forth. "Unfortunately not." He said. "They were moving too fast. Well, I guess this means that there really was somebody up in the attic before."

They were both at a loss. Courage glanced out the window one last time to make sure nobody was out there. He wanted to go out back and make sure whoever it was wasn't hiding out back there but he doubted his strength would hold out that long.

"I-I need a minute." He said to Computer. His heart was still pounding and he just couldn't seem to catch his breath. He clamored up into Eustace's chair and hoped that he wouldn't suffer a new attack because of his growing weakness.

"You'll be alright?" The machine asked in a wary tone.

Courage nodded. He didn't feel like talking anymore, actually, he felt more like taking a nap. He was once again left hating just how pathetic he felt now.

"Look, I'll go down into the basement and turn the power back on for you. You need to rest. I'll go back up into the attic and we can meet up again tonight."

Courage nodded lightly. "Just...keep an eye out for whoever that was. The last thing we need is something supernatural bothering us right now." He gave him a loud yawn. He was just so tired. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He caught a glimpse of Computer walking off and that was it...

"Courage? Courage?"

His eyes slowly opened. Muriel was looming over him, smiling pleasantly down at him. She had a bag in her arms, which he assumed was the dog food. After all the excitement he had just been through, he was pretty hungry now.

"Feeling better, dear?" She asked him.

He nodded, vowing to himself that he'd make it up to her for tricking her like that.

Eustace clamored into the house, carrying an armful of bags which Muriel went to go help him with. Courage yawned again and closed his eyes. Computer was right, he needed to rest. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and even then the outcome of his fate still wasn't certain...

End Of Chapter


	13. Doubts

Chapter 13: Doubts

Courage's attempt to spend more time with Muriel was ruined when a new attack occurred, leaving him even more weak and tired than ever. He had been so certain that the nap he took would have helped him but it obviously hadn't been enough. He'd been pushing himself too much lately and he really should have expected his illness to catch up with him sooner or later. If anything, he was grateful that he hadn't blacked out for days on end like last time.

Far too tired to do anything else, he simply laid around for most of the day while Muriel and Eustace went about their normal activities. It felt good to just curl up and rest.

Muriel _did _seem to be trying to spend more time with him though. While doing her usual work she'd stop just to sit with him. She seemed so sad when she did and it broke his heart knowing the reason why. He was certain the act he had put on this morning had only made things worse for her.

Eustace had gone out to work on his truck a few hours ago, and, rather then begin supper, Muriel did something fairly unexpected and went out to see him. Curious as to what was going on, Courage forced himself to get up and went out after her. He stood on the porch and listened as they talked.

"I-I don't think I can go through with this, Eustace. It feels just like yesterday when we found poor Courage in that alleyway. He's so young, even for a dog."

The old man scratched the top of his head with his wrench. "I donno, Muriel. Doctor said it was to keep him from suffering. You wouldn't want him to keep hurting just because you'd miss him, right? Even if we don't have 'em put down, he'll still die, you know that."

"I just...I just wish there were a way we could help him." Muriel sighed. She clasped her hands together and keep her head down low. The sight of it made Courage whine softly.

"Well, there ain't one, but this is your choice, Muriel. You have to decide what to do with 'em. Doctor said the same thing. You gotta let him go eventually."

She sighed again, unsure of what to do. "It's just...he acts so innocent. He doesn't know what's happening to him or what we're going to do. It doesn't feel right to just hand him over to a doctor and..."

"Doctor said you could stay with him while they do it. He won't be alone."

"I-I don't think I could watch, and he would know something is wrong if I stayed with them. I don't want him to panic in the end and I know that's what he'll do if he figures everything out."

Eustace was just as much at a loss as she was. "I donno know what to say. You're just gonna have to think about what's best for him. If you really don't want to go through with it, then don't, but he's just going to keep getting more and more sick if you do."

"I know, I know..." She sighed.

Courage cringed. He wanted to run out there and hug her. She sounded so dejected and he only felt even worse for her because of it. She must have gone to Eustace thinking that he had an answer for her. In the end, only she would be able to come to terms with herself. Courage's one and only comfort was in the fact that if everything worked out, if this plan of Computer's really did save him, she wouldn't have to make the decision.

Utterly diminished and looking even smaller than normal, Muriel headed back over to the house. Courage smiled up at her and tried to put on his doggy charm but she ignored him as she went by. It felt just like before, back during the first couple of days after the doctor visit. She was pretending he wasn't there again...

"Oooh, Muriel." He whined.

Once again he was left angry with himself for getting sick. He followed her over to the kitchen, wishing that he could do something, _anything,_ to let her know that everything was going to be okay. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for causing all of this, for causing her so much grief. He sat near his bowl as she went about her usual dinner preparations. She ignored him the whole time.

He stifled a whine and laid down, allowing his muzzle to rest on the floor. He watched as Muriel worked. She looked so listless as she went. He got up and did the only thing he could think of, he nuzzled her gently on the leg, trying to elicit some kind of reaction out of her. She almost immediately burst into tears and, falling to her knees, she scooped him up into a hug. It was such an unexpected turn of events that Courage was left stunned.

"Oh, Courage! I love you so much! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry." She blurted out between deep, wracking sobs. "I thought I could go through with this but...our little family just won't be the same without you! I know you're hurting but...but..." She couldn't go on.

He didn't know what to do so he just let her cry. In fact, he felt like crying himself. He could do nothing for her except hug her and hope that somehow she'd realize how sorry he was. He didn't want her blaming herself for what was happening to him.

"It's not your fault, Muriel. If anyone should be sorry, it's me." He murmured, even though he knew she wouldn't be able understand him. He felt tears stinging in the back of his eyes but he forced them back. "This is all my fault..." He whimpered.

"I'm sorry, Courage, but...but I think need some fresh air." She finally said, trying to pull herself together. Standing up slowly, she left the kitchen without another word.

Courage waited until he heard the front door open and close before he decided to move. Muriel had probably gone back to Eustace and he had been left alone, feeling even more dejected than ever. He didn't dare think about what might happen if that wellspring didn't exist and he returned home just as sick as ever...

He walked up to the front window to see where Muriel had gone. She was with Eustace again and they were both talking. He decided it would be best to leave them be for now and was just about to turn around again when a voice startled him.

"What on earth is everyone being so sad about?"

He whirled around and came face to face with the bright, bluish-green screen of Computer. He had to clasp his mouth shut to keep himself from screaming in shock. The spidery machine took several steps back as if he were surprised that Courage was so surprised.

"Don't look so freaked out! I wasn't exactly being stealthy you know."

"W-what are you doing down here?" Courage gasped. "_How _long have you been down here?"

The machine gave a nonchalant shrug. "I just got down here a few seconds ago. I'm _bored_." He replied tersely. "This is the first time I've been able to move around in forever. Why would I want to waste it sitting up in that stuffy old attic like I normally do?" He turned around before Courage could get a chance to reply and headed off into the direction of the kitchen. Courage noticed that he wasn't walking around with such an awkward gait anymore. He seemed to have gained a lot more coordination over the last couple of hours.

"But what if they see you?" He asked in a whisper, quickly catching up with the spider-like machine.

"You're kidding right?" Computer asked. "They never notice when the bigger supernatural threats show up so why do you think they would ever notice me? They'd probably think I'm an albino dog or something." He let out a heavy laugh which Courage scowled at.

"Muriel isn't stupid!" He yelled.

"Oh really? I've got plenty of evidence that would suggest the contrary." Computer laughed.

Courage glared at him but he held his tongue. He didn't want to get into another fight with the snide machine right now.

Computer shook his monitor like a human head. "You can sit around and mope as much as you like but I've got better things to do. Besides, I have no interest in human mating rituals."

"M-mating...rituals!?" He gasped. What the heck was he talking about? His shock must have been apparent because the machine waved a clawed arm in dismissal.

"It's _obvious _that the farmer is trying to make up with Muriel. I'm honestly surprised. I don't think I've ever seen those two act like a real couple before."

"What does that have to do with 'mating rituals'?" Courage asked. "I, er, think you're talking about romance, not mating rituals."

The machine ignored his quip and entered the kitchen. He went right for a cabinet, opened it, and started grabbing whatever he could find. Courage just stood there, his mouth hanging open at the sight of it.

"W-what are you-" He began, losing his train of thought when Computer pulled out a long forgotten spatula and began to examine it like it were a completely alien artifact to him. Courage continued to watch, completely dumbfounded.

"What?" The machine asked, his monitor very briefly turning to him before returning to what he was examining.

"Seriously, what are you doing?" He asked, finally pulling himself together.

"Nothing in particular." The machine replied with another shrug.

"W-what?" Courage asked weakly.

"I'm just examining all the stuff you flesh creatures come up with. You may all be idiots but you do invent some of the most fascinating things."

Courage shook his head. He wasn't sure if he liked Computer's new found curiosity or not...

"Wait a moment..." Computer spoke as he shuffled through the contents of the cabinet. "This can't seriously be..."

"What did you find?" Courage asked, trying to get a look at whatever it was.

Computer pulled out one of Muriel's favorite mixers. Courage was surprised that he would even care about such an old thing. Muriel had gotten that long before she had even adopted him. Apparently Eustace had given it to her as a birthday gift not long after they had married.

"What's so interesting about that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I saw one of these on the internet once. It came out quite awhile ago and they used to claim it could 'do everything'. Quite a sad story these things have. The humans absolutely loved them back when they first came out. People practically trampled over each other to get them. Huge crowds would amass just to grab what little they had in stock." He held the thing like it were a fragile piece of history. "It amused me that such a stupid little machine could cause such a reaction from the human masses."

It hit Courage that maybe this was why Muriel had treasured it so much. It must have been really hard to find and Eustace must have somehow managed to get one despite it's rarity.

He blinked and gazed back over at the machine. "But what's so sad about it?" He asked. "Did someone die trying to get one or something?"

"Nearly every single one of them turned out to be defective." Computer continued. "Only two percent of them ended up working as intended but the ones that do work properly are nigh indestructible. They go for tons of cash online now. The rest were recalled and eventually dumped into a landfill, never to be heard from again."

Courage could see why a 'fellow machine' would find this to be such a tragedy...

"I know how it feels." Computer sighed. "Most would consider me to be defective by now too. Hmph! I remember the good old days, back when they used to say I could do everything too!"

Courage laughed. "Alright, you can stop having a flashback now, grandpa." He outstretching his paw toward the appliance. "That mixer is special to Muriel and I don't want it to get broken. Can you please hand it over?"

The expressionless, spider-like machine somehow managed to look offended. "If you must know, I feel a certain kinship with this piece of hardware. I bet we even use some of the same parts. Besides, if anyone were likely to break it, it would be you!"

Courage frowned. He didn't need this right now. Too much had happened already today. He couldn't bear the thought of Muriel becoming even more depressed if Computer broke her favorite present.

"You're the one who couldn't even walk downstairs without falling a few hours ago! You nearly mastered falling UP stairs too!" He yelled.

"Well, aren't we being witty today? If you want it, come and get it, you twit!" He challenged. He sounded more amused than angry though. "I'll show you falling _up_ stairs!" He yelled.

Courage sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't have the energy for this right now, okay? Can I please have it back? I-I don't want Muriel to have anything else to be upset about..."

The machine remained silent for a moment. "Fine! Be that way!" He shouted, tossing the mixer over to the pup. "I'm just trying to have a little fun, you twit!"

"Thank you." Courage replied with as much sincerity as he could muster. Computer wasn't having any of it though.

"It's not every day I get to do whatever I want. _I'm_ trying to enjoy myself, unlike you!" He moved in closer and crossed his tube arms. "And just what are you being all down in the dumps for? You're going to live! You've got nothing to worry about anymore!"

Courage felt his blood begin to boil. How could Computer talk like he had nothing to worry about? Did he not see how sad Muriel was!

"You really are an idiot!" The machine continued, poking him in the chest. "I'm the one who's been doing all the work and I'm the one who will continue to do all the work! All you have to do is sit there and whine like a little girl! You have absolutely nothing to be worried about so knock it off!"

He couldn't help it. He finally snapped at Computer. "Nothing to worry about? Nothing to worry about!" He yelled. "Abububub! Aruuuuu!"

In all honesty, it felt good to finally let out everything that had been causing him so much sorrow lately. He ranted as loudly as he could, not even really to Computer either. He didn't care if he was speaking in English or not so he quickly devolved into something somewhere between human speak and dog speak.

Computer gave him the closest thing to a blank stare a machine could manage. "Slow down, dog! I can only understand so much gibberish in one sentence!"

"ARGH! AND YOU! YOU'RE..." He once again fell into his gibberish speak, now screaming at the top of his lungs about Computer.

"W-what? I do NOT have a funny accent, you twit!" He yelled.

Courage continued to rant for several minutes, letting out everything that was a source of him pain to him. Everything from how much he hated that he got sick, to how much he hated that he was becoming a constant source of trouble for everybody. To how scared he was to die and to how terrible he felt for tricking Muriel that morning. He didn't know how much of it Computer picked up on, but he really didn't care.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he ran out of things to say and let silence fill the kitchen. He stared at the machine, gasping for breath. He didn't know what to say and apparently Computer didn't either.

An incredibly long silence followed before the spidery machine did something akin to a shrug and said, "You worry too much."

Courage stumbled backwards in shock. "You're the one who doesn't worry enough!" He yelled. He had just unloaded everything on Computer and this was all he had to say about it? Seriously?

"I've told you a billion times now! Everything will be alright! I'll see to it that everything works out in the end. You have my promise."

"How can you be so sure?" Courage asked, growing frustrated again.

"Just trust me!" He replied. "If what I'm translating is correct, you feel sorry for Muriel because of what you're putting her through, right? Now you're feeling even worse about it because you tricked her this morning and acted a lot more sick then you really are?"

"Yeah..." He muttered as his ears drooped.

The machine crossed his metal arms. "Hmph! Your loyalty to that woman is nauseating! And that's saying a lot considering the fact that I cannot get nauseated in the first place! You're the one who's dying and yet you still put that old woman's well being before your own! I don't see what you're being all depressed about! You're only doing what's necessary to save yourself, and besides, Muriel will have plenty to be happy about when you make a miraculous recovery."

"But...but still..." He whimpered out.

Computer sighed, sounding rather annoyed that he couldn't get anything through Courage's head. "I guess they really weren't joking when they said dogs are a man's best friend. I highly suggest you stop blaming yourself for, well, _dying_."

"I guess...I guess you're right, but I can't stop thinking about Muriel's well being too though. I owe her a lot and I'd probably be a stray without her."

"I guess I should probably bring up the fact that if you go through with this, if you cure yourself of this illness, you will most likely outlive your owners. Without her, you may very well become a stray again."

Courage felt his heart drop at those words. He had an point. What was he going to do when Muriel died? If he saved himself he would ultimately have to watch as Muriel and Eustace died of old age. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to think about it.

"Well," He said gently, opening his eyes again. "at least I'll have you around to help me when that time comes. You can be the world's first stray computer." He laughed.

Computer said nothing. He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before he finally crossed his arms again and said, "I'm not exactly a new model, twit."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, giving the machine a quizzical stare.

"What I'm saying is, nobody lives forever. If you must know, I'm a little over twenty years old at this point and while that might not seem like much to a flesh creature, it's ancient for a computer. My model has long since been replaced by better ones and I'm... " He stopped and uttered the next part out so quietly that Courage almost didn't hear him, "hopelessly obsolete..."

The dog gave him a shrug. "Who cares about being obsolete? I'm sure you've got a few good years left in you, grandpa."

The machine shook his monitor. "Yeah...right..." He muttered out, unconvinced.

Courage watched as he went back to rummaging through the kitchen. It was funny, he had never really considered Computer a part of his family but on some level, he really was. The machine had always been there for him, if grudgingly so. He owed a lot to him and it wouldn't hurt to start treating him a little better, even if he would never do the same.

He was happy that Computer was in better mood now thanks to his new found mobility, even if he was being a bit weird about it. He didn't think he could stand the idea of arguing with him the entire way up the mountain, so if this was what it took to keep Computer happy, he'd take it.

Growing tired again from standing on his feet so long, he was about to head over to the table to sit down when a question struck him that he had never had occur to him before. He turned around and faced Computer, who's monitor was currently all but shoved inside a cabinet right now.

"Hey..." He said weakly.

"Yes, twit? I'm a bit busy at the moment." Came Computer's muffled voice.

"What's your name?" He asked.

There was thud as Computer's monitor collided with the ceiling of the cabinet. He ripped it out of there and turned to Courage. "Wh-what?" He gasped.

"Your name? What is it?"

The machine seemed to stumble for a moment. Courage was rather surprised by his shock. Had nobody ever asked him for his name before?

"I-I'm, uh..." He was actually speechless.

"What? Is it something embarrassing?" Courage asked with a chuckle.

"Well, I, uh, don't have one." He replied rather flatly. There was still a hint of awe in his voice despite his tone.

Courage blinked. "How can you not have a name?" He asked.

"Nobody ever bothered to give me one." Computer answered quietly, as though this were a delicate situation. "I never really felt like giving myself one and I never exactly needed one either. My old owners, they..." He stopped and a shutter almost seemed to run through his metal frame.

"That's still not a good reason to not have a name." Courage replied.

"Tell that to everyone who didn't name me." He grumbled. "It doesn't matter anyway, I don't mind. If it makes you feel any better, I do have a manufacturing number." He said. He talked as if Courage actually knew what he meant.

"Well...I, um, could give you a name." He offered. It was more like he was asking permission than offering though...

"And end up with a stupid name like Courage?" He chuckled. "I think I'll pass." He then turned around and began to head out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going now?" Courage called out to him.

"I'm going back upstairs, I've decided that it's boring down here anyway." He said in a dismissive tone.

Without much of a choice, Courage followed him. Couldn't that darn machine just make up his mind?

End Of Chapter


	14. A Rocky Friendship

Chapter 14: A Rocky Friendship

"Are you coming or not, twit?" Computer asked from halfway up the stairs.

Courage was lagging behind at the bottom. He let out a soft groan. Didn't Computer realize by now how hard it was from him to get up and down the stairs?

"I'm...getting...there..." He uttered out between gasps for air. When he did finally catch up, he all but toppled down beside the machine.

"You don't look so good." He said, sounding rather irked.

He looked up at Computer and gave him an expression of, 'well duh!'.

"You can sit here all day if you like but I'm going now." Computer said, still being as impatient as ever.

He turned around and took a step before Courage yelled out, "Hold on! You can't just leave me here like this!"

Computer swerved his monitor completely around without turning the rest of his body with it. "What? You're expecting me to carry you up or something, princess? Sorry, but that's not happening."

"C-Can't you just wait a moment?" He wheezed out.

"There's no time for that! I've got like a hundred things I want to do before we leave and no time to do them! Unlike you I'm trying to _enjoy _being able to move for a little bit!"

Courage glared at him. "You're the one who..." He stopped himself mid sentence as he heard the front door open and close.

"Courage, dear. Where are you?" Muriel called.

He glanced over at Computer. There wasn't enough time to get him back into the attic before Muriel could find them!

"Act like a normal computer for just five seconds!" He begged in a panicked whisper. "Please, do it. Just this once!"

"I don't see what the big deal is." Computer replied in a dismissive tone. "What's the worst that can happen if she sees me?"

"It could ruin our plans! Don't take any risks right now!"

"Alright, alright, fine then!" The machine muttered. "The things I do for your sake, you stupid twit!" And with that he collapsed, deliberately falling on top of Courage in what could only be a display of his contempt.

The tiny dog groaned. He could barely hold the heavy piece of machinery up. "Ugh, you weigh a ton!" He whispered.

"I'm acting like a 'normal computer' now, you twit!" He quipped back quietly.

"Did you really have to fall on-"

"Courage?" Muriel called out again. The sound of her boots reaching his ears tipped him off that she was coming up the stairs.

He slowly turned around, keeping a paw on the machine. He seriously hoped that Muriel wouldn't care that their computer was now on top of him.

"Courage, just what on earth are you doing dragging that old thing around?" Muriel asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Courage suppressed a painful groan. This wasn't going to end well.

"Eustace? Eustace? Come look at what Courage is doing. He's acting strange again..." Muriel called out.

Courage let his ears droop. He felt like a puppy who had just done something naughty and was about to be scolded for it. She'd said he'd been, 'acting strange again', which probably meant that she _had _noticed all the unusual things he had been doing lately.

"Whatcha doin', dog?" Eustace called out as he joined Muriel at her side. He didn't sound angry thankfully, just confused.

The pup smiled sheepishly at them. He didn't have an excuse for why he was carrying Computer around and he wouldn't have been able to give them a reason even if he tried.

"Didn't the doctor say that dogs get crazy when they're really sick? Ya know, they do weird things and the like?" Eustace asked Muriel.

Courage suddenly didn't like where this was going, but what could he do now? If only Computer had stayed in the attic, none of this would be happening right now...

Eustace continued, "He said they'll be normal one moment, then doin' strange things the next. They can get dangerous too. Start growlin' and bitin' you if you aren't careful..."

That was apparently enough for Muriel because she broke down into sobs at Eustace's words. She obviously couldn't stand the possibility that Courage could become feral or delusional. "C-Courage would never...get nasty...like that..." She sobbed. "Courage is a good dog! You know that!"

"Muriel! I didn't mean it like that!" The old farmer yelped.

Courage let his ears droop even further in sorrow. So now they thought he was going crazy too. As if things couldn't get any worse...

"I'll take care of the dog, alright?" Eustace said to Muriel. "Then I'll make ya some tea so you'll feel a little better."

Courage blinked up at the old man. He didn't seriously think that he was going crazy, did he? He wasn't a mad dog! He was just Courage! No different from his normal self except for the awful illness sapping his life away!

Eustace gave him a strange look. "Alright, dog. Let's get this thing back up into the attic." He said, picking them both up. He made his way over to the attic door and opened it. The sight that befell both him and Courage left both of their mouths hanging open.

The attic was completely trashed. Boxes that probably hadn't been opened since Muriel and Eustace first moved in were now laying open with their contents scattered about. The only thing 'neat' about the mess was that it seemed like everything was in organized piles.

Courage already knew who was to blame for this, but Eustace didn't and he would probably blame him for it. Whatever hope he had in not being labeled a 'mad dog' was now gone.

Eustace set them both down on the floor, as there was no other place to put them. Computer's desk was piled to the brim with things from the boxes and the bed was fairing no better.

He looked down at the pup and scratched his head in confusion. "I dunno what you're up to, dog, but don't go upsetin' Muriel anymore, you got that?" He wasn't angry, which was a surprise, but it didn't stop Courage from drooping his ears like he really had done something wrong. The old man shook his head and left the room, leaving poor Courage to sulk.

As soon as he was certain that Eustace was gone, he turned to Computer, who was still pretending to be 'normal', and scowled at him. "Muriel and Eustace think I'm going crazy because of you!" He yelled. "Why did you have to mess the whole attic up? You didn't even need to come down stairs in the first place! If you had just stayed put Muriel would have never found us!"

The machine stood back up on his mechanical legs. "Well, if I had known _he _was coming up here I would have cleaned up."

"You shouldn't have been messing around in these boxes in the first place!" Courage growled.

Computer brushed off his anger with a nonchalant shrug. "Does it really matter if they think you've gone crazy or not?" He crossed two of his metal arms. "If you really do care, I suggest you stop yelling before they hear you and think you've gone even more mad."

Courage continued to glare at him but said no more. He was right, they'd hear him if he kept yelling. There was a long and painful silence before he finally broke his gaze away from the machine and sighed.

"Just...clean up this mess, okay?" He asked gently.

"Hmph! It's not a mess, it's neatly organized, twit!"

Without another word, Courage clamored up onto the bed, pushed off whatever was on top of it, and let his muzzle sink into the pillow. He was feeling even more awful than ever before.

"I do wonder what idiot doctor told them you'd go feral." Computer spoke. "Delirium isn't a symptom of your condition. Well, you could consider it a symptom, but the sufferer would be so far gone by that point that they wouldn't be able do much in their delirium anyway."

Courage groaned and turned over in bed. He didn't really care what Computer had to say right now. He didn't even bother to raise his head up from the pillow. He was feeling too tired and too sorry for himself at that moment.

"This again!" Computer said with annoyance. "Seriously, twit?"

Courage heard the irate machine walk up to the bed. He was going to ignore him until he got a sharp poke in the side and was forced to sit up in anger.

"What did you do that for!" He yelled, rubbing where that claw had pierced him.

"Stop being all gloom and doom! Your endless angst is driving me insane!" Computer yelled, poking him in the chest this time. Courage swatted it away like a bug.

He fired back with an angry, gibberish filled voice. "Ububbubbubbba!"

"Oh, don't start with me again, idiot! You just ranted about all this like ten minutes ago! I already told you, you worry too much! Muriel is NOT going to feel any better if you just sit around and mope constantly!"

"ARRRUUUU!"

"Oh yeah, real childish insult there, twit! Is that really all you've got? If you weren't a complete pansy you would have figured out how to make Muriel happy again by now! But guess what? You so utterly fail at everything that you can't even do something as simple as that! Once a twit, always a twit, as I say."

Courage couldn't take it anymore. Computer reaffirming all of his own feelings of failure was enough to make him reach his breaking point. He burst into tears, wailing like a child. He didn't care if Computer would laugh at him. He couldn't take it anymore. He had failed Muriel in every way a proper dog could.

"Now you too?" The machine groaned. "First Muriel and now the twit. Great, just great! I will never understand why you organics do this crying thing, honestly!"

Courage ignored him and continued to sob.

"Hmmm, now what's the cure for this?" Computer asked himself rather quietly. "Oh yes..."

What Courage got next completely caught him off guard...

**WHAM **

He fell backwards as stars danced in his eyes. Computer had punched him square in the muzzle, which was more like being hit with a steel rod...

"Uggggh..." He moaned, clutching his head. The moment he could think straight again, anger filled his mind. He shot up and kicked the machine squarely in the monitor. Computer reeled back from the force of the kick. Whether he was shocked by the attack or not, his screen did not show it.

"Alright, that's it!" He growled. "Nobody hits a gentleman! En garde, you ingrate!" He stuck out a clawed arm like it were a sword.

"Gentleman? More like a stuck up jerk!" Courage yelled out between grit teeth.

"Oh really? That's all you have to say, coward?"

"Yeah, and you've got your monitor shoved so far up your hard drive that-"

"Oh ho, getting touchy, aren't we?" Computer laughed.

Courage jumped at the machine. He collided with his monitor and sent them both tumbling to floor. Computer clamped a claw around his neck and picked him up like a sack of potatoes.

"Let me go!" He shrieked, flailing around helplessly.

His foot collided with Computer's monitor once again and the machine dropped him. He didn't get a chance to stand back up though as another powerful punch connected with muzzle and left him laying on the ground half dazed. He whimpered in terror, realizing that he was losing. He tried to crawl away but another metal claw grabbed his head and smashed it back down onto the floor. He was pinned and Computer wasn't relenting at his attack.

"Hahaha! You can't even fight properly!" The machine laughed. "And you actually thought you could beat me?" He seemed far more amused than he was angry. In fact, he didn't even seem to realize he had taken their fight just a little too far.

Courage whimpered again, tears once more running down his muzzle. He was terrified now. Computer still had his head pinned to the ground and he could crush it like a grape if he really wanted to.

"What are you doing that for?" The machine asked, his tone changing from triumph to confusion. "I won and you lost. Don't be such a sore loser, you twit!"

Courage whimpered again and began to tremble.

"W-wha?" Computer asked, thoroughly confused at Courage's behavior. He had probably expected him to be angry, not terrified like this.

"Y-you win, o-okay?" Courage stuttered out in a small voice. "P-please, j-just let me g-go..."

The machine continued to stare at him, well, as much as a monitor could manage, and then he began to loosen his grip. "Well, if you're going to be such a spoil sport then..." He said. His tone was still filled with confusion. "So long as you promise not to take anymore pot shots at me, alright?"

The moment he was released from Computer's grip, Courage shot forward and hid himself under the bed. He pushed himself up against the wall and then curled up into a ball.

"Dog?" He heard the machine say.

He opened an eye to find Computer awkwardly lowered to the ground so that his monitor could see under the bed. It lit the whole place up with an eerie greenish-blue light. He was too big to fit under the bed and Courage was admittedly thankful for that.

"What's your problem, dog? I was only messing with you!" He said.

Courage shut his eyes and turned away.

"I thought you organic creatures smack each other around when you're depressed?" He asked. "I mean, I've seen it all the time in movies and literature before."

Still no response...

"You're not seriously going to stay down there, are you?"

Courage gave him a muffled groan but nothing else.

"Alright, whatever. Guess I'll just have to sit here then." He let out a sigh. "First time I've been mobile in ages and now I'm going to have to waste it doing exactly what I always do, sitting around. Thanks a lot, twit."

End Of Chapter


	15. Computer Antics

Chapter 15: Computer Antics

"You're not seriously just going to sit there and be all mopey?" Computer asked, tapping a metal foot on the floor. He waited several seconds before growing impatient again. "You aren't listening, are you? I've been talking for nearly ten minutes now and you haven't heard a word I said!" The machine lowered himself down to try and get a better look at the dog again.

Courage stirred a bit upon the dark area being lit up but he did not speak.

"I hope you plan on giving up this little tirade sometime tonight. This could seriously mess with my plans for tomorrow." He paused a moment, expecting a reply from Courage. He got nothing accept silence yet again. "Ugh! I'd be a bit more grateful if I were you!" He snapped.

Courage groaned but did nothing else. He just wanted to sleep and Computer wasn't letting him. He felt even more tired then ever before and his emotions were in a fray. Why couldn't that darn machine just stop talking?

"Alright, alright, so maybe I _did_ punch you, but you kicked me back so it's a fair trade!" Computer continued. "You could have broken something, you know! Everything else was merely self defense against your rampant idiocy! Maybe I got just a tiny, TINY bit carried away but whatever!"

"Abarufu..." Courage muttered, drawing himself into a tighter ball.

"Fine, I'm just going to have to do this the hard way, aren't I?" He sighed.

Courage raised his head wearily at Computer's words. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the bed began to pull away from the wall, leaving him completely exposed.

"RRAAAAGGHHHH!" He screamed, scrambling to get back under the bed. Computer, thankfully, didn't react quickly enough to grab him.

Oh, for the love of..." He groaned. He reached a claw down to try and grab him but even without a wall to protect him, the pup still managed to evade his every attempt.

"Leave me alone!" Courage yelled as he dodged another claw reaching out to get him.

"For goodness sake, dog! I have half the mind to just tip the bed over but I can't do that or else you'll start sobbing like a little girl again! I don't see what your problem is, I didn't do _anything _wrong!" He huffed.

"Abubublu!" He fired back. He couldn't help but get angry now. How could Computer continue to blame everyone but himself for his antics?

"Come on, dog! You can't stay down there forever!" He yelled, growing frustrated again. He lowered himself down to the floor once more and continued to chew Courage out with his every word. "I don't see why you adore that old woman so much! She's just another human after all! Those meat bags are all alike! They will always abandon you in the end, always! Besides, you've got more things to be depressed about than _her_! And guess what? I bet she wasn't even planning on staying with you once she dumped you off at that vet office! See what I mean? She will inevitably abandon you when you need her the most!"

Courage raised his head again and gazed over at the machine. He wanted to argue that Muriel would never _ever_ abandon him but he didn't want to start another needless fight. He let his head sink back down onto the floor and sighed.

"Trust me! I know this from experience! You're setting yourself up for disaster, kid!" He continued. He was starting to sound more and more desperate. "And besides, she's not the one doing anything to help you, now is she? She isn't the one trying to save your wimpy, ungrateful hide!"

A long silence followed. Computer had probably expected him to say something by now. He finally seemed to hit his limit. "Alright, fine then! I guess I _will _leave you to rot down there! I hope you're happy, idiot! Can't say that I didn't try!"

Courage opened an eye in surprise at Computer's anger. He have the machine a pitiful look before lowering his head again.

"Alright, alright!" He snapped. "I'm _sorry_, now will you please come out?" He, of course, didn't actually sound sorry though. "I swear you're going to be the end of me!" And with that he lowered a claw down to him, showing that he wanted to help him out.

Courage glanced over at him. "I'm just...really, really tired right now." He admitted. "Can't you just let me rest for a bit?"

"You were...tired?" Computer asked, completely bewildered. "Why on earth didn't you say so! What was the point of making me go through that whole tirade!"

"Sorry..." Courage choked out.

"Will you please come out at least? Sleeping down there can't be comfortable after all."

Courage nodded weakly and managed to drag himself out from under the bed. He was so exhausted that his limbs felt like they were made out of iron. He only managed to stand for a moment before his muscles seemed to give out and he would have fallen if not for a metal arm catching him just at the last moment.

"Thanks." He muttered out halfheartedly. He could barely keep his eyes open anymore and he just couldn't stop his body from shaking. It was an amazement that he hadn't suffered from an attack yet.

"You don't look so good." Computer commented quietly. "So much for keeping your energy up, huh?"

He nodded and gave him a small, 'yeah', but that was all he could manage. Computer helped him up into bed and he plopped down onto the pillow without another sound.

Computer's voice only vaguely registered in the back of his mind as he drifted off. "Keep it together, Courage. We've got a long way to go and you must hold out for as long as possible."

He subconsciously flinched at his name being used again but it was quickly forgotten as he drifted off to sleep. He felt a blanket fall over him and then there was nothing...

End Of Chapter


	16. The Gift

Chapter 16: The Gift

It happened yet again...

Courage's restless sleep was plagued with nightmares, each and every one taking advantage of his worries. His mind seemed to play out every horrible scenario it could come up with as he tossed and turned in bed.

...He was strapped to a table with that awful vet leering down at him one again. He struggled but the bindings were too tight. The vet pulled out a giant syringe, laughing gleefully. It was just like last time...

"Better say goodbye while you've still got a chance, dog!" The vet laughed as he gestured over to a corner.

Courage strained his head to get a better look and his eyes widened at the sight. It was his parents...

He would have been overjoyed to see them, even under these circumstances, but they were crying and they both looked so disappointed...

"I can't believe we have a defective son." His mother sobbed.

"I-I'm not defective..." He whimpered. How could they think that about him?

"Where did we go wrong?" His father asked. He hugged his mother in an attempt to comfort her.

"I-I didn't mean to get sick. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He whimpered, holding back tears. He couldn't believe their disapproval.

"Heheheh, looks like they bred a sickly little runt!" The doctor chuckled, his voice growing more and more ominous. "Well, you're one more defect that I plan to correct!"

Courage squeezed his eyes shut as the cruel old doctor raised his syringe. He waited for the feeling of cold metal to pierce his skin but it never came...and then...

_**BANG **_

He let loose a scream and toppled out of the bed. He hit the ground with a thunk and for a moment he didn't even realize where he was. Another loud bang rocked the house and then he figured out that it was storming outside. Rain was beating up against the window and the wind was howling so viciously that it sounded like some kind of monster. He blinked, still partly dazed, and wondered what time it was. It was obviously night now, but how late was it?

"Could have used this thunderstorm before, hmm?"

Courage looked up to find Computer sitting on the opposite side of the bed.

"Wha..." He asked, still half asleep.

"They said there wouldn't be any rain all week so of course it starts to rain right after we needed it. Stupid lightning..." The machine grumbled.

Courage let out a yawn and crawled back up into bed. He was still tired despite his nap and he wanted to make sure he was rested up before their trip to the vet, what might be his _final _trip to the vet.

"You know, you talk a lot in your sleep." Computer said in a nonchalant tone.

Courage cringed. Had he heard what he said in his nightmare? "I, um..." He muttered out sheepishly.

"You're not defective or anything." He said, saying it so causally that he might as well have been discussing something he had seen in a newspaper. "Some of the top bred dogs get this condition and I doubt anyone would say _they _are defective."

Courage let his ears droop and then plopped his head back down on the pillow. Another clap of thunder made him jump. How was he ever going to get back to sleep with all this noise? He closed his eyes and tried to let his mind relax but another sound caught his attention. He sat up to find Computer flicking a yo-yo in one of his claws. Courage recognized it immediately. It was his lucky yo-yo! He hadn't seen the thing in months, not since he last buried it somewhere out back. Actually, that had been back before he got sick, back when he could dig without...

"Where the heck did you find that?" He asked. Computer couldn't have seriously gone and dug it up, could he?

"This?" He asked, raising the yo-yo. "Behind the toilet."

Courage cringed. "What were you doing behind the toilet?"

Computer ignored his question and went back to flicking the thing. As if his new found curiosity wasn't weird enough already...

"That's my yo-yo, you know." He continued. "It's helped me out a lot whenever I need to save Muriel. I've always considered it like, I don't know, a lucky charm because of it."

"Lucky? I'm afraid your life is well and thoroughly lacking in luck. I'd be hard pressed to call this stupid object lucky." Computer scoffed. He tossed the thing over to Courage, completely uninterested in it.

Courage stared down at the yo-yo for a moment and then a funny idea crossed his mind. He looked back up at Computer and decided that he would indeed go through with his strange idea.

"Um...Computer?" He asked.

"What do you need now, twit?" The machine replied in an exasperated tone. "Don't you have some sleeping to do or something?"

"I want you to have it." He said, presenting the yo-yo to him.

"Er, what?" Computer asked, completely confused. "Why? I told you already, I don't think that thing is lucky!"

"It's not much, but it's a thank you for all the things you've been doing for me." He tried to give him a genuine smile. It wasn't easy though.

The machine seemed to be at a loss for words. "Isn't that important to you?"

"Yeah, but I want you to have it now. It's a gift for helping me."

Computer slowly reached out and grabbed the yo-yo from him. His screen gazed down at the object clasped in his claws and then back up at Courage. He did this several times, as though he couldn't comprehend the notion of being given a gift. He seemed outright stunned.

"Well, er, thank you, twit." He said, adding in the 'twit' almost as an afterthought.

"I bet that must have really hurt to say." Courage replied with a grin.

"You have no idea..." Computer grumbled, placing the yo-yo down onto the bed.

Courage let his head plop back down onto the pillow. He groaned and stretched his entire body out. He was still aching everywhere and almost no amount of rest seemed to quell it. He wished the storm would let up so that he could finally get back to bed but it only seemed to be getting worse with every flash of lightning.

"You're still not well, are you?" He heard Computer ask.

"No." He groaned.

"Hmm, you know what? I think I have an idea. Something that will pick you up a bit."

"What?" Courage asked, sitting back up again. What did he mean by 'pick you up'?

"Follow me." Computer spoke, jumping off the bed with a dull thunk. He made his way over to the door and gestured at Courage to follow him.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" He cried out. "We aren't really leaving, are we? Muriel and Eustace might wake up!"

"Don't worry! So long as we keep quite your owners won't wake up."

"We shouldn't risk it!" Courage replied in a sharp whisper.

"Trust me on this!"

"The last time I trusted you, you got me in trouble!" He shot back, but it was no good, Computer was already out the door. He jumped off the bed and decided to follow him before he did something _else _that would get him into trouble.

"Computer!" He called out quietly, but the machine was ignoring him.

End Of Chapter


	17. Lethal Cooking

Chapter 17: Lethal Cooking

"Computer, come on!" Courage whispered to the machine. He was already halfway down the hall.

"Zip it!" Computer whispered back. "It's you who's going to wake them up!"

Courage raced down the hallway as quietly as he could. Muriel and Eustace were snoring but he was terrified that they'd hear them talking and wake up. If he was caught running around with Computer again they'd assume he'd lost his mind.

He glared at Computer but he was still being ignored regardless. They both managed to sneak past the bedroom without disturbing Muriel or Eustace and soon they were both free to climb down the staircase.

"Just what are we doing?" Courage asked, annoyed that he'd have to go up and down the staircase again.

"I'm going to try something that should make you feel a little better. You're going to need energy." Computer said as they reached the living room.

"What are you going to do exactly?" Courage asked. The machine whirled around stopped him in his tracks.

"You wait here, dog. I'll be back in just a couple of minutes." He spoke, turning back around and heading into the kitchen.

Utterly confused, Courage sat down in Eustace's chair and watched as the storm continued to rage outside. Lightning was the only thing illuminating the room and it was so frequent that it might as well have been a lamp. He could hear Computer doing '_something' _in the kitchen but whatever it was, he couldn't guess. He was just about to close his eyes and try to rest when he heard the sound of Muriel's mixer starting up in the kitchen.

"What the heck?" He asked, gazing over at the kitchen door. Just what on earth was Computer up to?

The sound of the mixer went on for several more minutes before the kitchen fell quiet again and the clinking of dishes could be heard. Courage had half the mind to go see what he was up to but didn't get a chance as the door swung open not five seconds later.

"It's done!" Computer spoke, sounding rather proud of himself. He was covered in _something _but Courage couldn't tell what. He had a horrible feeling that the machine had just made a mess of the kitchen...

He jumped off the chair and entered through the door, unsure of what to expect. Just as he had suspected, it was terrible. The table was a mess, the counter was a mess, _everything_ was a mess. Food was scattered everywhere and something brown and smelly was caked all over the walls. His mouth fell open and he turned towards Computer.

The machine nabbed a bowl off the table and brought it over to him. His nose nearly fell off from the smell coming from it. It smelt like Eustace's socks dipped in raw sewage...

"Ugh, what is that!" He yelped, turning away.

"Food you flesh creatures eat!" Computer replied, completely oblivious to the horror that he had just created. "I did some research and this concoction holds all the nutritional value a dog like yourself would need. It should give you a good jolt of energy and make you feel less sick."

"It smells horrible!" Courage choked out as he pinched his nose shut.

"Who cares about smell! Smell is overrated! I've never done it once in my life!" Computer replied loudly, still as oblivious as ever.

"It looks disgusting!" He continued. The brown paste within the bowl almost seemed to move of it's own accord, begging someone to put it out of it's misery. He didn't even _want _to think about how it might taste.

"Are you kidding me, dog? _All _of your organic food looks disgusting to me. You eat each other for goodness sake!"

"Then maybe you're not really qualified to make food." Courage replied weakly. He hoped he could worm his way out of this. He was growing more and more nauseous by the second...

"Nonsense! This holds all the nutritional value you need! It _must _be good for you!"

"What might be good for me and what's actually edible are two totally different things, you know!" He argued.

"Hmph! I try to do something nice for an idiot like you and you can't even have the good manners to be nice back!"

"I'm not eating that!" Courage fought.

Computer continued on his tirade. "All I wanted to do was try and make sure the twit doesn't drop dead from his illness! Silly me trying to do a _good _thing for a change!"

Courage insides writhed with disgust "Alright, alright! I'll try it!" He choked out, still overwhelmed by the smell. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this...

"Good! The sooner you get your energy back the better!"

He stared down at the awful smelling stuff. His stomach was screaming 'NO!' at him as he looked at it. He grabbed the spoon that was already in the bowl and picked up some of the disgusting ooze. It stuck to it like taffy...

He could barely even look at it because of how bad the stench was making his eyes water. Whining pitifully, he opened his mouth and stuck it in. He swallowed, desperately trying not to taste it. His body instantly rejected it before it could even touch his stomach.

"Where are you going?" Computer called out as he made a break for the back door.

He clamored out into the storm and his stomach immediately evacuated everything he had eaten that day. It was desperately trying to purge the abomination that Computer had forced him to eat.

He could hear the machine yelling at him from the open door. "You're doing it wrong, you twit! You're supposed to keep it in your stomach, not expel it!"

It felt like hours before his gut finally stopped wrenching. Just thinking about that taste made him go into another vomiting fit, even when there was nothing left to gag out. Wet, cold, and tired, he decided to take his chances and go back into the house. He slammed the door shut, soaked to the bone, and glared at Computer.

"_Never _make me eat your cooking again!" He growled.

"Obviously that didn't work." The machine replied, sounding annoyed at Courage's less than pleasant response. "Maybe I should try..."

"NO! Nothing else! Not after that!" He yelled. He didn't think his stomach could handle anymore.

"Alright, alright! Keep your fur on, you twit!" Computer relented.

He sighed and relaxed a bit. "I'm going to go rest. Could you clean up in here?"

"Of course." He still sounded annoyed that his mushy paste hadn't worked. "Don't you think that maybe..."

"No! I don't want to be your guinea pig anymore!"

"But, dog..." He continued.

Courage was just about to argue back when the kitchen door swung open, shutting them both up. He felt his entire body turn to ice. Eustace tromped his way into the kitchen...

"Just what's going on down here?" He asked. His expressionless face slowly turned to Computer who was still standing there.

"Oh, dear..." The machine muttered softly.

Courage tried to find his voice and said rather sheepishly to the old man, "Um, Aru?"

Eustace was not amused, he placed both his hands on his hips and opened his mouth to speak but then they were both surprised when Computer stepped forward, completely of his own violation, and began to talk.

"Uh, hi? I guess..." He began. "I do believe we've met before. I, er, was laughing manically, took over your body, got it smashed into a thousands pieces. Actually, I, um, I'm kinda hoping you _don't _remember that..."

Courage's mouth fell open.

Eustace's eyebrows narrowed angrily. It was obvious that he hadn't taken Computer's introduction very well...

End Of Chapter


	18. Under The Mallet

Chapter 18: Under The Mallet

Eustace glared down at Computer. "What's with the funny accent? Stupid kids! If you're going to come to this country, learn how to speak the god darn language! And whatever you're selling, we don't want any!"

Yep, Courage was convinced that they were doomed...

"You've got to be kidding me!" Computer groaned. "He seriously thinks I'm speaking a different language!"

"That's it! I'm gettin' me mallet! Ain't having no intruders in my house!" Eustace yelled, going off to find his trusty, oversized mallet.

"You've got to tell him what's going on!" Courage gasped. "He never understand me but he'll listen to you!"

Computer's monitor slowly swerved over to him. He didn't need a face to express his seething snark. "He thinks I'm speaking another language, dog I just can't work with that level of stupidity. You're on your own, kid."

"We've got to try something!" He yelped.

Eustace rammed the door open again. He now held his gigantic mallet in his hands and he brandished it threateningly at Computer. "Alright! Either you get or I make you get!"

Computer sighed, as if he couldn't believe that he was trying to speak with someone so stupid. "Look, I'm trying to help Courage. I obviously can't do that if you bash my monitor in."

Eustace's response was to swing his mallet, which Computer promptly dodged.

"Don't you want me to help him?" He called out to the old man, all while dodging another swing of the mallet.

Courage felt his heart drop as it became painfully obvious that Computer wasn't going to convince Eustace of anything.

"We...don't...want...any!" The old man yelled, swinging his mallet this way and that. Computer was just barely keeping out of his way.

"Um, yeah, twit, I don't think this is working." Computer called out, dodging another blow.

Courage placed a paw to his chin as he tried to think. "Maybe I can...LOOK OUT!"

Eustace swung his mallet once more and before Computer could leap out of the way, it made contact with the side of his monitor, sending him flying into a wall. Courage's jaw hit the floor. Several seconds passed and the spidery machine did not get back up.

"Oh no!" He gasped.

Eustace lowered his mallet and began to gasp for breath. Swinging it around must have really taken it out of him. Computer remained unmoving, his tube-like legs sprawled about. The old man straightened himself back up and began to converge on the machine again, much to Courage's horror. He didn't know if it was out of anger or out of a desperate desire to protect Computer, but he rushed forward and...bit down hard on Eustace's leg.

"ARRRGGGH!" The farmer screamed, swinging him around and around, trying to get him off.

Courage held on for dear life, knowing that Eustace would have his hide for this. They seemed to spin forever as Eustace tried to get his balance. Finally, with a great swing of his leg, Courage was sent flying. He hit a wall with a vicious crack and instantly blacked out...

How much time had passed, he didn't know, but it seemed like forever...

Though his head hurt immensely, he slowly opened his eyes. Light was shining in from a barred window and a strange smell filled his nose. He felt his head and found a large bump where he had hit the wall. He slowly rose up, looking over his surroundings, and then horror overtook him.

He was in a kennel and it was no ordinary kennel, he had seen it before. He was trapped in the Nowhere veterinarian office...he recognized that smell. It was daytime now and it had to be Friday, there was no other day it could be. He was going to be put to sleep and this was it...

He paced about, back and forth, unsure of how he had gotten here in the first place. His little brawl with Eustace must have knocked him out cold. Just how long had he been knocked out? How long had he been lying in this kennel?

No, no, no! Eustace and Muriel must have thought he had finally gone crazy after biting Eustace like that! They had probably taken him down while he was still knocked out, thinking that he might attack them again once he woke up!

He let his ears droop. What had happened to Computer? Even if he was okay, what could he possibly do to help him now? He was as good as dead...

He slid back down onto the floor, realizing that it was unlikely that he could be saved now. He didn't know how long it would be until they came for him, but he doubted he could escape anyway. He placed a paw up against his head and groaned. Just what was he going to do now?

End Of Chapter


	19. The Kennel

Chapter 19: The Kennel

Courage wandered back and fourth through his kennel, all while wondering how he could possibly escape this predicament. The vet's could show up to put him to sleep at any moment and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He looked down and sniffed the two bowls they had left for him. The cheap dog food was soggy and the water smelled as if it had been sitting in there for ages. This place had an atmosphere of despair and tension to it. Every once in a while one of the dogs would let out a whimper or worse, they would start to howl loudly, often startling Courage. It took every fiber of his being not to outright panic. He didn't want to die in this place!

_'Come on!' _He thought to himself. _'If it were Muriel in trouble, you would have found a way out by now!'_

He grabbed the bars of his kennel and yanked at them as hard as he could. It was no use, they wouldn't budge. The small window shining sunlight down into his dark cell was too high up for him to reach and it was barred up as well. He had no way of escaping.

He sighed and slid down onto the cold floor. His head still ached viciously and he had to keep a paw up against it to keep the room from spinning. He silently cursed Eustace for putting him in this state. If only Computer were around to help him. He'd know what to do.

A loud, barking laugh from across the aisle made him jump. He stood up and inched closer to the bars out of curiosity. A bulldog was standing in the kennel across from him, laughing like a hyena. The crazed dog gave him a toothy grin and beckoned at him to get closer. His teeth were yellow and rotten. He looked very old but stood up on two legs like Courage normally did.

"So, what did they put you in here for?" The dog asked with a craggy voice. "Did your owners forget about you too? Or are you one of those dogs with 'behavior' problems?" He broke out into a coughing, hyena-like laugh again, causing Courage to cringe.

"Ummm..." He tried to stammer out but it was blocked out by the bulldog's mad laugh.

A man suddenly came into view as he walked past both of their kennels, startling Courage enough to make him jump. The man seemed to be some kind of janitor, clad in a dirty green wardrobe and a ratty brown hat. His face seemed to be screwed up in a permanent scowl, deepening the wrinkles on his sunken face.

Sneering, he smacked the bars of the bulldog's kennel. "Enough, you damn mutt!" He growled before stomping off again.

The bulldog's laughter slowly tampered off. "That would be the janitor and 'dog keeper', Rick. He prides himself as the only reason why no dog has ever escaped this place."

Courage swallowed. "Nobody's ever escaped?" He asked in a tiny voice.

"Nobody." The dog reaffirmed. "What? Were you planning on trying?"

"Well, yeah. I'm not supposed to be here." He tried to tell the dog.

The bulldog let out another booming laugh. "Ha! That's what they all say!"

Courage doubted that he could reason with this strange dog. His head obviously wasn't in the right place anymore. It didn't surprise him much, all things considering. He had often heard rumors about the strange things kennels did to a dog's mind...

"Look over there." The bulldog said, pulling his rather large head through the bars.

Courage did what he was told and looked over to where the bulldog was pointing. It was a single metal door and a strange sort of smell was coming from it. It smelled like doctors, chemicals, and something unidentifiable all put together.

The bulldog spoke in a deathly quiet voice. "When you go through that door, you never come back out. So unless a human comes to save you, you're doomed to go through the door. Not many people take dogs like us as pets, so don't get your hopes up."

Courage's heart sank, realizing what that door symbolized. He needed to get out of here, and fast. He was about to withdraw back into his kennel when the bulldog shook his head and pointed at him to keep watching.

The door swung open, shining bright light into the dark and dank kennels. A vet stepped out into the room and that Rick guy went hobbling over to him. He handed the vet a clipboard and they both looked it over in silence. Finally, they both nodded to each other and Rick went over to a kennel right next to Courage.

The dog inside let out a high pitched yelp. Rick looked as if he wanted to kick the dog but was holding himself back. He grabbed the flailing pup with a look of disgust and pulled him out into the open. The dog was chanting something over and over again in such a fast voice that not even Courage could understand what he was saying.

"QUIET!" Rick shouted, but the dog still wouldn't let up.

"My owners still love me!" He cried out in his high pitched voice. "They're still coming back! I know they are! Please don't take me away! I need to wait for my owners!" He was repeating those words over and over again in a hysterical voice. He didn't stop chanting until they entered the white room and the steel door slammed shut behind them, drowning out his voice...for good. A painful silence quickly filled the room again.

The bulldog laughed, causing Courage to jump again. "Stupid kid actually thought his owners were coming back for him! Hahaha!"

Courage shrunk away. He decided he didn't like that bulldog very much. He sat down in the back of his kennel and stared up at the window, wondering if he would ever see the outside world again. His stomach began to rumble so trudged over to his bowl of dog food. He figured that since he might never eat again after this, he'd gulp down the disgusting food anyway. A prisoners last meal indeed.

End Of Chapter


	20. A Glowing Light

Chapter 20: A Glowing Light

The day quietly wore on as Courage sat huddled in his kennel. It had only gotten darker once the sun moved from his side of the building to the other. He had tried a few things to escape over the last few hours, but nothing worked. He had even pretended to be in pain, hoping that someone would open his kennel to take a look at him. He would have tried to make a run for it but nobody even bothered to come by and see what was wrong with him, much less open the door.

In every ten to twenty minutes that steel door would open and another dog would be sent away. There was almost always a lot of screaming and struggling. Few dogs faced their end with dignity. That old, cranky janitor would also bring in new dogs to fill the kennels of the old ones. They looked just as panicked and terrified as Courage knew he himself did. These were the sick, old, insane, dangerous, and unwanted animals. Shunned by their human partners and unwanted by others. To be put here meant that you were no longer good enough to live among the humans.

Despite his dislike of the insane bulldog, Courage had also decided to talk with him a little bit more so that he could figure out a few more things about this terrifying place. He knew vet's weren't the kindest people around, even with his bias against them because of what had happened to his parents, but surely they knew about the conditions these doomed dogs were forced to wallow around in! From the sound of it, there were two other kennel rooms in the building. The more 'desirable' dogs were kept in the others while the sick or unwanted dogs were kept in this one. People almost never were allowed to come into the room so the dogs trapped inside never had any hope of being adopted. Sometimes an older person would be let in to find an older, more sickly dog, but that was an exception. Nobody ever wanted the dogs that snapped at their owners, barked insistently, chewed on everything they could find, or lost control of their bladder at all the wrong moments. This place was essentially death row for anyone who was trapped inside its cages.

Things had started to get very cold without any sunlight. Courage's paws were going numb from the icy concrete floor. They didn't even bother to leave something for the dogs to sleep on. You had nothing but a little bit of open space to stretch out in and two bowls to eat and drink out of. That was it.

A loud banging sound caught his attention and then one of the dogs let out a shrill yelp. He cringed, wondering what could have happened to make it scream like that. Rick wasn't around to abuse any of the animals at the moment so maybe the dog was just hurting from something, probably an untreated illness that had landed him or her here in the first place.

Courage rubbed his paws together, trying to regain feeling in them. If those vets let him live over night, he was certain that he'd freeze to death long before they could put him down. Actually, he wouldn't be surprised if that tainted water and dog food didn't do him in first.

Another bang from somewhere made him jump. Perhaps a dog was trying to escape? Had they actually managed to do it? He went over to the bars of his kennel and stuck his head out as far as he could. There was nothing, not a single animal or human to be found. He sucked in his breath and pulled his head back through the bars.

Another bang...

He didn't bother to go look this time. Maybe it was just one of those crazy dogs bashing his head up against a wall. He wouldn't have put it past one of them to do exactly that. He sat down on the other side of his kennel, hoping to catch the last few rays of light, and sighed weakly. He continued to rub his paws together and that was exactly when he caught the soft sound of paws pattering across the stone floor. He blinked and stood up again. This new development renewed his faith in that maybe one of the dogs had escaped.

Walking over to the bars, he nearly jumped three feet into the air when something _glowing_ walked up to him. It was a dog...

He stared, his mouth slightly agape. For a moment his brain seemed to shut down. The dog in question was the same breed as he was. They looked almost identical outside of the fact that the glowing dog was a deep blue color and scowling angrily at him.

"Computer?" He asked weakly.

"I've finally found you!" Came Computer's voice from the dog. His scowling expression quickly turned into one of relief as he stared at the pup. "I thought I might have been too late!"

Courage continued to stand there, his mouth stuck open in shock.

Computer crossed his arms, a frown returning to his face. "What's your problem? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"C-Computer?" He asked again, unable to believe what he was seeing. Hadn't Eustace bashed his monitor in before?

The machine waved a paw dismissively. "Obviously! How many other dogs glow in the dark? Bah, I'm not liking this at all!" He glanced down at his own body in disgust and stretched an arm out rather awkwardly. "This body is so ungainly!" He complained. "Humans are bad enough but dogs are even worse! How am I supposed to do anything with _these_!" He brought his paws up to his face and glared at the spindly, little appendages.

Courage ignored the question and managed to stutter out a few more words. "Y-you...you're okay..."

"Hardly!" He grumbled, grabbing one of his own ears and pulling at it. "I wake up to find myself in a garbage can, half my programming in shambles, covered in trash, and with a headache the size of Texas! You're nowhere to be found, I assume the worse, decide to trek halfway across Nowhere, got lost at least a billion times, had to hide from nearly a hundred humans, and now I've got to spend the rest of this trip stuck in an ungainly body like this one! At least humans have _thumbs_ for crying out loud!"

"I-I'm glad you made it." Courage stammered out with relief. "This place is awful! They treat everyone in these cages like they're inmates on death row! I-I thought I was doomed..."

"Don't get too comfortable yet, twit. We've still got to get you out of here."

"What about your real body?" Courage asked. Surely Computer wasn't leaving it around somewhere for anyone to pick up?

"Oh, that." He said rather flatly. "I locked it up in an closet nearby." He produced a ring with several keys on it. "I managed to grab this from that janitor person while he was napping in the lobby."

"And what about me?" Courage asked, looking up at the lock on his door.

"That's a problem, actually." Computer replied with a nonchalant shrug. "That man seems to know all the keys by heart because none of them are labeled and there are a _lot _of them. It's a minor miracle that I even managed to find the right key to get to this dog."

"Well, try every key until you find the right one! You've got to hurry though, that janitor could be back at any moment!"

"Right." Computer nodded. "I'll just-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR KENNEL!"

"Of course..." Computer muttered sarcastically. "This never can be easy, can it?"

He didn't even manage to take two steps back before Rick came crashing down the hallway. Cursing under his breath, the old janitor picked him up by the scruff of his neck and shook him angrily.

"How did you get out!" He growled. He stopped shaking him just long enough to get a better look at him. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the glowing, blue dog. "Dunno what's wrong with you." He said, poking him in the stomach. "Ain't never seen a dog this strangely colored."

Computer glared hatefully at the man. He didn't speak nor even try to struggle, he just watched cautiously as Rick looked him over. He probably had a _billion _nasty things he wanted to say but must have been holding his tongue just to play it safe. Glowing or not, he _was _supposed to be acting like a normal dog now.

Rick grinned, clearly savoring the dog's anger. He gave him one last shake before grabbing a ring of keys from his belt and opening Courage's kennel. He tossed Computer inside and slammed the door shut.

"Hope you're not the reason my keys are missing." He threatened, tossing his newly produced ring up and down. "I've got spares, as you can see."

With that he stomped away, not giving the two dogs another glance.

"Ugh, I'm getting too old for this..." Computer groaned. He had landed on his head upon getting tossed. "And now we're as good as stuck in here too..." He stood back up and brushed himself off.

Completely forgetting the horrible situation they were in, Courage flung himself forward, tackling the cynical machine into a hug. He couldn't help it, he was just so glad to have someone else in here with him. He wouldn't have to face this awful nightmare alone anymore and that was all that mattered at the moment.

"Ack! What are you doing? Get off!" Computer yelled, trying to pull the dog off of him. He reeled backwards and nearly crashed into the wall behind him as he escaped Courage's grip. "Don't you dare smother me like that, idiot!" He snapped.

Courage laughed at the machine's horrified expression.

"And...and STOP THAT!" He continued, still as outraged as ever.

Courage blinked. "What?" He asked.

"That!" Computer growled.

He gasped, realizing that his tail had been wagging the whole time and he hadn't even noticed it. He stopped, grinning sheepishly.

"It's...er...involuntary!" He laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

Computer continued to glare at him.

"How are we going to get out of here?" He asked. _Anything _to change the current subject at hand would spare him the extra embarrassment.

Computer shook his head and shrugged. "There's no easy way out of this now. I've got these keys, but..." He trailed off.

"Just try them all! You'll eventually find the right one!"

He crossed his arms. "That's not the only thing though. That janitor is going to be on the lookout for us now. He already seems to be the paranoid type and if we get out again I'm sure he'll flip out. We need to find a way to get past him without being caught. If he gets these keys from us we really will be stuck in here."

Courage sat back down and shivered. "I don't think we'll be able to just sneak away either."

Computer nodded in agreement. "I need some time to think about this. I'm sure there's a way we could overpower that idiot or something. Humans are lumbering, awkward creatures after all. I bet he can be tripped up very easily."

Courage shivered again. "Just hurry though. We'll freeze to death at this rate!"

The machine blinked, partly confused. He touched one of his own paws and shook his head. "So this is what being cold feels like?" He asked.

"You've...never been cold before?" Courage asked, surprised by this strange development. Computer always seemed so human at times that he often forgot that he really wasn't.

"Clearly!" He snapped. "What's the point of all this fur then? It doesn't feel very pleasant and it apparently doesn't do what it was made to do!"

"Oh, well..." Courage replied weakly. He didn't really understand how fur worked either.

"What? Am I doing something wrong?" The machine asked, still confused about all of this."Does the fur need some internal prompting? Is there a bit of programming that needs to be switched on?"

"Er, dogs aren't machines you know"

"Obviously!" Computer dismissed him. "So how does it work then?"

Courage laughed sheepishly again. "I don't really know, actually."

"You're kidding right? You _are _a dog!" Computer sighed. "You organics make no sense at all!"

End Of Chapter


	21. The Not So Great Escape

A/N: Hard to believe this story is already over a year old!

Chapter 21: The Not So Great Escape

Nearly an hour passed as both Courage and Computer tried to come up with a plan for their escape. Courage was sitting on the floor, trying to warm himself up, while Computer was pacing back and forth with a paw on his chin.

"I may have an idea." He spoke. "But it's not very good one, and-" He grinned. "You're not going to like it."

Courage cringed at those words. "W-what? What do I need to do?"

"We're going to wait for them to come and take you. When that stupid janitor comes around to pick you up we'll rush him and knock him out. While he's down for the count we'll make our escape. Easy enough!"

Courage shook his head. Computer was right to think that he wouldn't like the idea. "We can't do that! What if it doesn't work? What if he manages to stop both of us? What then? He'll take me into that room and..."

"This is our best and only chance." Computer interrupted. "If we can knock him out he won't be a problem for us anymore. There's no point in escaping if he just catches us again! He'll be completely off guard when he opens that door to get you and then we can rush him!"

Courage wanted to protest further but Computer was right, knocking out Rick would save them a lot of trouble. The old man _would _probably have very a hard time fighting off the both of them.

"Trust me!" Computer went on. His overconfidence didn't inspire any enthusiasm in Courage but he was willing to go along with the plan regardless.

The day seemed to go by even more slowly now that they were waiting for Rick to return. There wasn't even any guarantee that they _would _try to put down Courage today but that didn't stop his own nervousness knowing that one screw up would leave him strapped to a table and screaming out in agony as they pumped deadly chemicals into his body. He paced back and forth through the kennel, trying to sooth his nerves. The steel door hadn't opened in awhile but that didn't mean they were done for the day.

Finally, after another hour passed, the steel door did open up again and both dogs jumped with surprise. Courage had to fight back every ounce of instincts he had to keep himself from panicking.

"Ready?" Computer asked.

He nodded, taking a deep breath and hoping dearly that this wouldn't go wrong. Considering their current track record however...

Rick stomped out of the bright, white light, looking particularly unhappy. He glanced over at a clipboard attached to the wall and then scanned the various kennels. Cracking his knuckles, he walked forward, grinning maliciously. The gleeful janitor began to hum a happy little tune as he walked, stopping in front of their kennel. Courage shrunk away in terror. How he hated that man! How could he enjoy doing this to animals? How could he go about it with a smile on his face?

Computer tensed up, ready to pounce. He was probably eager to get his revenge after how much Rick had shaken him up before.

"It ain't your turn yet." The old man spoke, still grinning like a maniac. "But you're a trouble maker, I can tell."

It took a moment for Courage to realize that Rick was talking about Computer alone. He hadn't so much as glanced over at him yet. He might as well have not been there at all.

"Trouble makers get dealt with." He continued. "So you're being moved up on the list."

He reached over and unlocked the kennel. Sneering, he leaned down to grab Computer, and...

"GO!" The machine yelled, lunging at the janitor.

With a swift flick of his hand, Rick snatched the glowing dog right out of the air. Courage tackled his leg, hoping to knock him over, but failed to so much as sway the old man. He seemed to be far more fit then any man his age had the right to be. He lifted his leg and kicked Courage into the back of his kennel. Computer flailed around in an effort to get him to let go of his neck but Rick's grip was like iron and held him fast.

"Hehehe!" He laughed. "Thought you could outsmart me, hmm? No dog has escaped me in over thirty years! What made you think you could pull it off?"

"Uh, Courage..." Computer spoke, the full implications of what was about to happen to him hitting him like a ton of bricks.

Pulling himself out of a daze, Courage raced forward to stop the janitor. He was greeted by the metal bars being swung back into place and locking with a click. "Oh, no!" He whimpered.

"Trouble makers get made an example of!" Rick yelled, turning the glowing dog this way and that to show the other dogs. "Nobody escapes, nobody! And if you try, you'll be dealt with immediately!"

Courage grabbed the bars and shook them. He had to help Computer before it was too late! "ARRRUUU!" He cried, trying to get the old janitor's attention.

Computer gave him a helpless glance. Rick continued to swing him around, ranting on and on about what would happen to disobedient dogs.

"That's enough, Rick!" A voice called out.

Courage pulled his head though the bars and saw that there was a vet standing in the doorway of that bright, white room. His arms were crossed and he was looking particularly annoyed.

"They're just dogs!" He went on. "They aren't out to get you! Hurry up and bring that one over here! You're holding up the line and we can't call it a night until-"

"I know, I know!" The irate janitor snapped. He shook Computer one last time before tromping forward.

"D-dog, I could use a little help!" The machine yelped, glancing back over at him one last time.

Grumbling under his breath, Rick handed Computer over to the vet. He made one last feeble attempt to pull himself away but it was no use. Courage could only watch, terrified, as the steel door slammed shut.

_'No, no, no, no!' _He shouted over and over again in his mind. He had to do something! Anything!

He pushed on the bars as hard as he could. He had to get out! He couldn't let this happen! Try as he might, they wouldn't budge. He was as good as a stuck rat and Computer was the one with the keys!

"What are you doing, kid?" The bulldog asked. He pressed his saggy face up against his own bars. "You ain't gonna save your friend. Any dog who goes through that door doesn't come back out."

Courage clenched his teeth together and pressed harder. If that were the case then Computer was going to be the first one to come out!

"Give it up, kid. You ain't going to break those bars. Your friend is as good as doggy treats!" The bulldog let out his barking laughing which only fueled Courage to push even harder.

He growled in anger. This wasn't working! He couldn't let that bulldog win, or Rick!

"Come on! Think of Muriel!" He told himself. "If it were her in danger, you'd be out of here by now!"

He backed himself all the way up against the wall and charged forward on all fours. He nearly gave himself a concussion upon hitting the bars but his pain hadn't been for nothing. He looked up and found that the hinge holding the lock in place had almost broken off because of his impact.

"Yes!" He cried out before backing up to hit the door again.

This time the door came crashing open as he rammed into it. He didn't even take the time to stop, he just bolted straight for the metal door. He pushed it open as fast as his paws would let him and then he was bathed in that bright, white light...

"There's no way you can't understand me!" Computer yelled. "How many dogs have you brought in here that could speak English too? How many have you ignored? You humans are all the same! You only hear what you want to hear!"

Courage's eyes adjusted to the light. The room was a painfully sterile white, devoid of anything except a few medical objects. Three veterinarians were huddled around a metal table. Two were keeping Computer pinned down, who was currently struggling against their grip, and the third was preparing the deadly injection.

"Ugh, let go! You can't do this to me!" The machine shouted, desperately trying to get one of his limbs free. "I'm not some stray mutt! You can't just-"

"SHUT UP!" One of them yelled, taking his one free hand and punching Computer square in the stomach. He hit him hard enough to knock the wind out of a full grown human, much less a tiny dog.

"St...stupid humans..." He growled through grit teeth. His usual haughty nature seemed to melt away as his fate drew nearer. He stopped struggling, a calm sort of acceptance falling over him. He stared up at the vets who were holding him down, his expression unreadable. As hard as it was to believe, he appeared to have accepted his fate.

The third vet raised the syringe. "I won't miss this loudmouth." She said, rolling her eyes.

Computer cringed, glancing away. It seemed that all of his usual bravado had faltered completely in the face of his own death. Just as they were lowering the needle into his arm, Courage jumped forward and knocked the third vet to the ground. The syringe went flying, never getting a chance to empty its contents into Computer's arm.

"The hell?" One of the secondary vets asked. The two of them both let go of Computer long enough to help the third back up and that was all the machine needed to scramble off the table and get away from them as fast as he could. He landed next to Courage, looking unusually flustered.

"Dog, how on earth did you..." He tried to ask.

"I, uh...just used my head!" Courage laughed, knowing fully well that Computer wouldn't understand.

"Maybe I'm just new to this whole 'needing to be rescued thing', but don't you think you were cutting it a little bit close?" He asked in a huff.

"I think we've got bigger problems to worry about." Was his reply. He took several steps back, ears drooping.

All three vets were back on their feet and glaring angrily at the two dogs. The biggest guy was cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Got any ideas?" He asked Computer.

"Running would be a great start." Was his answered.

With that they both split up, running in the opposite direction of each other. There wasn't exactly a lot of room to run though and it seemed that the three vets had more of a grudge on Computer as they all went after him instead of Courage.

"Why me? Why is it always me?" He complained. They were easily catching up with him as they made circles around the room.

Courage climbed up onto the counter where they stored all of their tools and grabbed one of those large metal trays that they put medical equipment on. He waited for one of the three of them to get closer and...

_**WHAM**_

He bashed the sheet down on top of one of the vets head, knocking him out cold.

Unfortunately, the other two vets were on him like a pack of wolves. The female picked him and struck him across the muzzle. He cried out in agony and she dropped him on the floor, where her companion got a good kick in.

"Hey, idiots!" Computer called out.

They both turned and gasped at the same time. Courage looked up, ignoring the pain throbbing through his muzzle. Computer was holding up a red, plastic box with a hazard sign on it. Courage blinked, wondering why the vets cared so much about it.

"I've got used syringes and I know how to use them!" The machine yelled, causing both of the vets to gasp yet again.

"Hey, man! Watch what you're doing with those things!" The male vet cried out, backing up.

Courage had no idea why they were so afraid of used needles but he used the distraction to trip up the female vet. He then knock her out too with the metal sheet she had dropped on the floor just moments ago. The final male vet seemed to lose his nerve and made a run for the door. Computer jumped out in front of him before he could make his escape.

"Oh no you don't!" He growled, brandishing the red box like a weapon and causing the man to squeal like a little girl.

"P-please! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't contaminate me!" The man yelped, backing away yet again.

Computer glared at him. "How about you knock yourself out too? Then you can be like your little friends! I suggest you hit yourself as hard as you hit me...or else." He waved the red box threateningly.

The guy's eyes widened. "Wha-"

"Alright, I guess you want me to contaminate you then." He reached down to pull the lid up off the box.

"No! Alright, I'll do it!" The man cried. He made his hand into a fist, glanced down at the two dogs, then back up at his fist, and finally punched himself as hard as he could. He spiraled backwards before collapsing to the ground.

"Heh, idiots." The machine laughed. He dropped the box onto the floor and made his way over to the knocked out man. He gave him a sound kick to make sure he really was knocked out and shrugged.

"Are you alright?" Courage asked, jumping down off the counter to join him.

The machine scowled. "I almost came _this _close to meeting _your _fate! How do you think I feel! Honestly!" He huffed. "I think I'm going to have to start charging you money for my help because what I'm getting is _not _worth it!"

Courage shrugged. "At least I managed to save you in time."

"We wouldn't even be here in the first place if it wasn't for you and your stupid illness!" Computer shot back angrily.

"Well, what now?" He replied, hoping that he could change the subject.

"We've still got one problem left." Computer said, turning towards the door.

"The janitor..." Courage groaned. They still had to do something about him and he was very obviously good at stopping dogs.

"This could get messy." Computer warned him.

"What about this _hasn't_ been messy?" Courage asked, glancing over at the knocked out veterinarians. He was not looking forward to this...

End Of Chapter


	22. Courage's Courage

Chapter 22: Courage's Courage

"I've got a feeling our new friend isn't just going to let us waltz out of here." Computer said. "We need to find a way to stop him from catching us again because we obviously couldn't overpower him before."

Courage tapped his foot as he tried to think of something. "Hey, why don't we free those other dogs! They could help us!"

Computer groaned. "No, no, no! Save the heroics for when I'm not stuck with you! What makes you think they'd help you if they were in your position? Every dog for themselves and all that other nonsense!"

"We can't just leave them here to be picked off one by one! If we help them they'll help us in return!"

Computer sighed. "I see that your heart is set, as usual. I suppose I can't argue. They _could _be useful in getting rid of that janitor."

"Good!" Courage reaffirmed. "I've got an idea, so listen."

"I can't believe I'm finally seeing the day where you are the one telling _me _what to do." He complained.

Courage glared at him but continued. "I need you to distract the janitor. Give me your keys and I'll work on getting everybody out of here. I need as much time as possible since matching up the right key with the right door is going to be pretty hard to do. There are two other kennel rooms as well so this is going to take a little while. "

Computer flung his arms up into the air. "I'm a computer, not a punching bag! I've already got a thousand bruises and I haven't even been in this body for more than a day! That man will no doubt turn me into his own personal stress ball!"

"All you've gotta do is keep him from catching you. He can't turn you into a punching bag if he can't get his hands on you."

Computer slapped his forehead. "Why did I ever sign up for this? Why couldn't I have been microwave? They never have to deal with this kind of nonsense!"

"Stop complaining! We've got to hurry! These guys will probably wake up soon!" Courage glanced over at the unconscious veterinarians and shuttered.

"Alright, alright! Lets get this over with!" Computer sighed. He shook his head and turned around.

They both exited the room and were greeted by the ever gloomy kennels. A dead silence fell over it as they entered. Every dog had their eyes on them. Computer gave Courage a quick glance but he was just as surprised by this reaction as he was.

Finally, a high pitched voice broke the silence. "They made it back through the Door! No dog has ever done it before! They are our saviors!"

Cheers rang out from all across the room. Courage couldn't help but smile. This almost felt like old times!

Computer gave him a wry smile. "I suppose you're in your element now, aren't you? I'll leave you to it then."

"Alright!" Courage called out to the dogs. "We're going to try and get you all out of here so please cooperate!"

"Ugh, dog! You're doing it wrong!" Computer scolded him. "Listen up, you twits! If any of you give us a hard time we'll leave you here and then you can deal with all these humans by yourself!" He stomped down the hallway, glaring at every dog in their kennels. "I'm having a _really _bad day so don't get on my bad side!"

"Wait!" Courage called out to him.

"What?" He asked, turning back around. "If I have to play punching bag can I at least get on with it?"

"I need those keys!"

Computer shook his head and tossed the ring over to him. "Anything else you need, idiot?" He asked dryly.

"Yeah, your ego." Courage joked.

He got another annoyed sigh from Computer. "Making sarcastic quips is my job, you twit! Are you really trying to one-up me?"

"That's what happens when I get stuck spending so much time around you!"

"Oh, really?" The machine laughed. "I'd say you could gain some much needed IQ points by hanging around me."

"Don't you have a janitor to be battling?"

"Fine, fine." He grumbled. "I suggest you be quick though. I don't think our new friend will be very happy to see me!"

"Maybe you can snark him to death or something!"

"Oh yes, very funny." He replied with another roll of eyes. Fed up with Courage, he turned on his heels and made his way over to the door.

Courage glanced down at the ring of keys. There were a lot of them, just like Computer had said. There was no way he could pull this off in a timely manner. Rather than worry about it, he began testing the keys on one of the locks.

"You really are our savior!" A weird, bug-eyed dog said within the kennel he was trying to unlock. The strange creature's voice was absolutely filled with adoration and reverence.

"I'm just...trying to do...what's...right." Courage replied between every switch of his keys. Finally he found the right one and the door swung opened with a click.

"Thank you, savior!" The dog yelled, jumping out of his cell. He nearly tackled Courage to the ground trying to kiss him.

"Yuck!" He yelped.

End Of Chapter


	23. Man Vs Dog

Chapter 23: Man Vs Dog

The janitor was hard at work writing up a report at his desk. The main office was completely quiet as nearly everyone had already gone home for the night. The sun hung low in the sky, bathing the room in a bright orange tint. Computer, who had just entered, cringed. He was _not_ looking forward to this.

He cleared his throat, trying to get the old man's attention. Rick looked up from his paper and an expression of complete shock fell over him. He clearly couldn't understand how a dog he had taken to be put down was still standing there, alive and very much out of his kennel.

"I do believe we have a score to settle." Computer said, a small smile crossing his face at the sight of the dumbfounded janitor.

Rick jumped to his feet. "How did you get out of there?" He yelled. "You're supposed to be dead! I saw them take you!"

Computer placed a paw up against his chin, still grinning maliciously. "That's for me to know and for you to never find out!" He mocked. His smug smile only helped to fuel Rick's rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!" He screamed, jumping right over his desk and quickly closing what little ground their was between them.

Computer made a break for it, just barely managing to dodge a tackle from the enraged janitor. He spent the next few minutes avoiding kicks, punches, and swipes. Every miss only managed to whip the angry janitor up into an even bigger frenzy. He began to scream out slurred curses, spraying spit everywhere as he did so.

"I knew there was something wrong with you!" He yelled, stopping his onslaught for just a moment.

Computer took a step back, unsure of what the crazy old man would do next. He needed to buy more time but he wasn't sure how much longer he could avoid the enraged janitor. If he got his hands on him, well, he'd probably tear him limb from limb, or worse...

Rick continued to rant incoherently, barely even taking the time to catch his breath as he did so. "I always knew you dogs were against us humans! They said I was mad, but I knew! I knew that one day you would all rise up again your masters!"

He hobbled over to the wall on his right and stopped in front of what looked like an emergency fire kit. Instead of it saying, 'In Case Of Fire Emergency' on the glass it really said, 'In Case Of Dog Apocalypse'.

Computer stared. These people really were crazy! Well, who could blame them really? Nowhere probably experienced a dog apocalypse every other Friday...

Rick smashed the glass with his elbow and produced an ax from the emergency supplies. He had an absolute devilish glint in his eye as he glared down at Computer. "Bet you're their leader!" He sneered. "If I take you out, they won't ever think to oppose me again!" Letting out a war cry, he raised his ax high into the air.

Computer took another step back, completely dismayed by the janitor's newest attempt to kill him. "Um, I don't suppose we could maybe, you know, talk this out or something?" He asked the janitor as he closed in on him. "S_-_seriously! There's no reason to-"

_**THUNK**_

He managed to jump just as Rick's ax hit the floor. Had he not gotten out of the way it would have landed right on his head...

"WHY WON'T YOU HOLD STILL?" The man screamed. They both took of running, weaving back and forth between the various office desks.

"Because dying horribly was NOT on my list of things to do today!" Computer yelled despite knowing fully well that the man wouldn't care about anything he had to say.

He ducked as the janitor swung his ax again. This time he felt a sharp pain in his ear as he dodged the sharp blade. He tumbled out of the way and quickly hid himself behind a desk. Something warm was dripping from his ear and hitting the ground beside him. He lightly touched the afflicted area and found red liquid oozing out of it. It took him a moment to realize what was going on. Rick had cut the tip of his ear off!

"Blood?" He asked. "I'm bleeding?" He was not accustomed to organic functions like bleeding or even pain. The injury came as a bit of a shock. If Courage didn't hurry up, he'd be...

"ARAAAGGHHH!" The janitor yelled, his ax sinking into the top of desk above Computer.

The glowing dog was forced to run yet again. He knew his organic body was beginning to tire out. He could already feel the dog's muscles beginning to tense up and his lungs were beginning to burn. No matter how much air he tried to take in, it wasn't enough to keep him going. He quietly cursed that stupid twit for taking his time.

"I bet you're radioactive!" Rick yelled, still incoherent in his rage. "That's gotta be why you're all glowy like that! Bet I've got cancer from having to handle a mutant like you!"

"Actually, I'd say it's radioactive rabies, and that's much _worse_." Computer joked, trying to annoy his tormentor.

"DIE!" The man shrieked. His ax narrowly missed Computer once again. It brought up sparks as it slashed the floor in vain.

Their little battle went on for several more minutes. Rick could not gain an upper hand against the dog and Computer could do nothing but scramble out of the way of his every blow. The old janitor was tiring out as well. Every breath he took came out in ragged puffs. His swings were growing even more erratic, almost always missing their mark completely.

Computer swung behind another desk, hoping that it would give him cover for a few more seconds. He needed a break and Rick certainly wasn't going to give it to him. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up at this. He wasn't sure how much longer _Rick _could keep up at this. He'd probably give the old man a heart attack long before they could finish their fight.

"Come out, come out, little puppy!" The janitor called. "Are you cowering away from me? Good! I like it when you little monsters are afraid of me!"

Computer stepped out from under the desk. "I don't cower, thank you very much! You're just so bad at this that I got bored!" He loudly challenged the janitor. If he could just tire the old fool out a little bit more...

Rick charged yet again. Computer escaped another cleaving by slipping through the angry man's legs and diving behind another desk. The old man screamed and tipped it over, leaving Computer momentarily exposed. He avoided yet another swift swing of the ax but not without coming very close to getting one of his legs lobbed off. He internally scolded himself for not being more careful. There was no reason to get careless, even if Rick _was_ tiring out.

"This is the end for you!" The old man growled, still panting like he had just run a marathon. "You're tiring out! I can see it! Why not make it easier on yourself and just give up? I can't promise I'll make your death any less painful though!" And he let out a malicious laugh.

"Not on your life." Computer returned. He took a step back, unsure of what to do now. How much longer could this man keep ticking?

He turned and ran, opting to keep up at the same strategy he had been using. The old man howled his anger and followed. Computer dodge several more swings, the fool's attempts growing even more frantic. If anything, Rick's desperation was only making him even more dangerous. He was swinging about so wildly now that it was hard to gauge which way his ax would go next.

"Why...won't...you...die!" He screamed out between every failed swipe of his weapon. He finally had to stop, lowering his ax so that he could place a hand on his knee.

"Giving up?" Computer laughed. "Looks like your next stop is a senior home! Face it, Grandpa. You're out of your league!"

"ARRRAAAA!" He screamed, leaping forward and, catching Computer off guard, struck him with a swift kick of his leg. It was enough to send the glowing dog toppling to the floor. "You're gonna regret ever crossing me, dog!" He growled, gripping his ax with both hands.

Computer opened his eyes. How could he have let that old fool kick him? He tried to jump away on all fours but wasn't fast enough. The ax swung down and cut into his side. He cried out, completely unaccustomed to the strong sensation of physical pain. Was this the end for him? How could he have screwed up at the absolute worst possible moment? What would happen to Courage and all the dogs he was trying to save? Would Rick hunt them down and kill them too? Of _course _he would!

Cringing but completely resolute, he grabbed the blade of the ax and pulled it out of his side. The smug look on Rick's face turned to rage as the ax clattered to the floor.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Computer challenged once, very much aware of the blood seeping out of his torso and the heavy pain throbbing through his body. He couldn't give up now, not when Rick would go after the rest of those dogs if he didn't keep him occupied.

"Should have gone for the neck!" Rick yelled, stepping forward. "Well, you ain't running anywhere now, puppy! Not with a wound like that!"

"We'll just have to see about that!" Computer shot back, turning around to run. The old man was unfortunately right though, running only brought on more vicious pain. He couldn't get very far without nearly blacking out from the agony it caused. Desperate for some form of reprieve, he swung behind another desk.

"I should just sit here and let you bleed out!" Rick called out to him. "You ain't going to last much longer, mutt!"

He ignored the man's taunting and glanced down at his injury. He admittedly didn't know much about organic creature wounds, or what to do about them. His didn't seem fatal at least. It was deep, but it hadn't cut so far into his body that it had hit something vital. The man was right about one thing though, if he didn't do something soon, he'd bleed out and then the injury _would _become fatal.

He attempted to stand back up but immediately collapsed again. No, this wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Pain or no pain, if he didn't get moving again, there was nothing stopping Rick from coming over and cleaving him in half. He _had _to keep moving no matter what, regardless of his injury.

_**THUMP**_

The ax dug into the desk above him, Rick's grinning face peering over the edge. He took a deep breath and got ready to move...

"Oh, are we going to play some more?" Rick taunted. "Here I was thinking you'd finally given up!"

Computer stood up, swaying for a moment. He was starting to feel, what was the word organics used? Light headed? Yes, that seemed to be the right phrase. The last thing he wanted right now was to pass out and leave himself to the whims of this crazy old man. He desperately hoped that this dog body wouldn't give out on him before he could get away.

Rick reached over to grab his ax. He had embedded it quite deep into the desk. He tugged at it a few times but it wouldn't budge.

"Wha-?" He asked, surprised to see that he had swung it so hard. He pulled at it a couple more times but it was completely stuck tight.

Computer let out a sigh of relief, glad for one small miracle.

"I-impossible!" Rick yelped. He pulled and pulled at the ax but it would not budge.

"Looks like you missed your target." Computer taunted him. "Or were you actually trying to cut that desk in half? It's hard to tell because that's all you've managed 'kill' so far!"

Rick screamed a gibberish curse at him and yanked at the ax even harder. His enraged face was red with the strain.

"You know, maybe if you had actually swung that hard at me I wouldn't still be standing here." Computer went on. Maybe that old man really _would _have a heart attack from all his efforts. Either way, his taunting was only making the man even more frustrated and the more frustrated he was, the more likely he was to mess up.

"I'll...kill...you!" The janitor growled between his teeth grit. He gave one last almighty tug on his ax and, much to both his and Computer's surprise, the wooden shaft separated itself from the sharp, metal blade.

Computer laughed, completely stupefied by the old man's dumbfounded expression. "I can't believe it! That's certainly no Excalibur! Hahaha!"

The man began to growl and pointed his worthless stick at the glowing dog. Even his neck was red with anger now. His teeth were grit so hard that it was an amazement that he hadn't somehow managed to crack them yet.

"What? Are you going to try and bludgeon me to death with that? Hahaha! Hilarious!" Computer continued to laugh. The crazy old janitor just looked so stupid with that thing that he couldn't stop himself.

Apparently his taunting got through to the old man. He let the stick slip through his fingers and hit the ground with a clatter. He let his hands fall to his side and stared at the little dog. A small smile broke out across his face as he did so.

"I don't need that stick to kill you." He said in a deathly quiet voice.

He launched himself forward and Computer was not nearly fast enough to get away. His injury simply impeded him too much. The old man grabbed him by his neck and hauled him upwards until they were eye to eye.

Rick's grip was unimaginably strong. Computer was quickly finding it impossible to breath. If that man tried to strangle him any harder, his neck would simply snap off.

"I always beat you little monsters in the end!" He laughed. "None of you have ever escape this building ali-"

He stopped, his eyes suddenly widening. "What on earth..." He gasped.

The man's grip on Computer's neck lessened, allowing him a chance to turn his head and get a look at whatever had shocked him so badly.

Dogs were walking single file out of the kennel room and over to another door. Their pace picked up the moment they realized Rick had seen them. Courage was nowhere to be found but it could only be him leading the group.

"I-impossible!" Rick gasped. "How did they..." His expression returned to that of pure anger. "No! I won't let them escape! No one ever escapes me! You're all dead, you little monsters!" He screamed.

The dogs still in line gasped, breaking their formation and making a beeline for the door that Courage must have been leading them through. Where that door led, Computer wasn't sure, but he hoped it was some kind of exit.

"No, no, no!" Rick moaned. "I can't allow this to happen! _I can't allow this to happen!_" He dropped Computer without so much as a second thought and race forward to stop the dogs. Left with little other choice, Computer grabbed the man's leg in a desperate bid to stop him.

"You're not going anywhere!" He yelled, pulling at the man's leg as hard as he could. "Our fight isn't over yet!"

"Get off me, you mutt!" Rick yelled, kicking at him with his one free leg. They struggled for several minutes longer before he finally managed to pry Computer off of him. "I'll deal with you later!" He yelled, giving him a quick kick and then turning around to leave.

"Crap..." Computer sighed. There had to be a way to stop this idiot! He turned to that discarded stick as several ideas ran through his brain. It certainly wasn't his weapon of choice but maybe it could act as a distraction. He grabbed it in one fell swoop and raced forward, ignoring the sharp pain in his side.

"Hey, idiot!" He cried out, swinging the stick through the air and striking the man in his back.

"Son of a-" Rick cried out. He whipped around to confront Computer but instead got another strike, this time to his knee. "You little-" He groaned.

"Don't move!" Computer threatened. "You're not going to hurt those dogs, not so long as I have anything to say about it!"

"We'll see about that!" Rick challenged. "You're just one tiny little monster. I've stopped ten of you with my eyes closed! You don't stand a chan-" He lunged forward mid-sentence. Computer, having sensed that the man would do something stupid, got out of the way just in time. Rick nearly tripped as he came to a stop, and just as he was righting himself, Computer angled the stick and...stuck him right between the legs. He let out a high pitch scream and fell to the floor.

"Momma..." He whimpered, rolling back forth. "Why, momma, why..."

Computer stared, partly from shock and partly from amazement. "T-that actually works? I know I've seen it in movies and stuff, but..." He shook his head and smiled. "Ah, so you humans really do have weak spot then?" He knelt down to better observe the man's agony. "It has a complete paralyzing effect, just like in movies! Fascinating!"

Rick continued to roll about. "You...little...monster! I'll...kill...you! Ugghhhh..."

Computer glanced down at the stick again, wondering if he should use it to smash that old janitor's face in. He certainly deserved it after all. No, he decided. The man was obviously of no harm to anyone anymore. He decided that would not allow himself to sink to the same level as these disgusting humans. He let the stick drop to the floor and turned to leave, rolling his eyes as the janitor continued to sit there and sob like a little girl.

"So much for that." He sighed, cringing as he took a step forward. His cut was still causing an incredible amount of pain. As that, what was it called? Adrenaline thing began to take over, it was lessening his pain and making him feel a little bit better, but even then, every step he took still sent knives shooting up through his torso. "Perhaps I will have to discard this body after all. I'm sure that twit wouldn't be happy about me leaving a dog to die though."

Hopefully there would be enough time for him to change bodies. It would be difficult though as he needed to insure that he kept a body that was the same breed as Courage. The wellspring's rules wouldn't allow for anything else.

"This stupid dog body better hold out a little bit longer..." He groaned.

End Of Chapter


	24. Round Two

Chapter 24: Round Two

Computer went over to the door that all the dogs had been escaping through. Opening it up, he was greeted by a long hallway. Courage and his group of escapees were about halfway down it, murmuring in quiet voices as they did so. Wherever they were going, Computer had no idea.

"Twit, what on earth are you doing?" He called. "We're trying to escape, remember?"

Courage pushed his way out of the crowd and waved to him. He cupped his paws together and yelled back, "There's a garage down here! One of the dogs told me about it! They've got a dog catching van and we're going to try and steal it!"

Computer replied back with, "That's nice and all, but we can't waste anymore time! I managed to stop the janitor for a little while but I doubt he's going to stay down forever!"

"Keep distracting him then!" Courage called back.

He frowned and rolled his eyes at the dog's words. "Do you not see all of the blood currently pouring out of me? I'm almost out of commission over here, dog!"

"Just keep him distracted for a little while longer! The garage is just down here! We'll be ready to leave in a few minutes!"

Computer shook his head. "Ugh, you are unbearable! I'll probably have bled to death by then!"

Regardless, he turned to leave. Hopefully that stupid janitor would be in too much pain to do anything else. All they really needed were a few more minutes, if Courage was right about the van. If he had anything worth regretting now it was that he _hadn't _knocked the janitor out. Perhaps he could get that old fool tied up while he was still rolling around on the floor.

"I swear, that twit is going to be the end of me." He sighed, stifling several other complaints as he walked. That damnable cut of his continued to ache with every step he took. He lightly placed a paw up against it in hopes of slowing the bleeding, unfortunately that only made it hurt worse. "If this doesn't stop soon..." He began, cut off by the sound of a click and his forehead bumping into something cold. He looked up and his mouth fell open.

"Hello again, mutt. Thought I'd give up so easily?"

Computer stared. He'd been so distracted by his injury that he hadn't noticed what was right in front of him. He was staring down the end of a silver barrel, the janitor's jeering face grinning at him from atop the metal tube.

"S-Shotgun?" He asked, momentarily too dumbfounded to act.

"I've always kept it around for emergencies! They said I was crazy doing that! Hahaha! Never thought I'd get a chance to prove them wrong!" The old janitor poked Computer in the nose with the barrel. "How about this? I'm a fair guy, so why don't I start counting and you start running?"

Computer took a step back. There was a good chance that the old man would turn his gun onto the group of dogs if he didn't keep him distracted, but if he didn't get away either, well, he'd soon be bits of brain matter on the wall...

The janitor continued to grin, savoring the final moments of his menace. "Any last words before I blow your brains out?" He asked, poking Computer in the forehead. "One..."

Computer slightly turned his head to the side. There was a door next to them. If he were fast, he could get away. It wouldn't put much between him and janitor but at least he wouldn't be staring down the barrel of a shotgun anymore. Hopefully Courage would have those dogs piled into the garage by now. He didn't dare turn around to look though. So long as Rick was focused on him, the old man wouldn't turn his wrath onto the dogs.

"Well?" The vicious man asked, poking him again. "Two..."

"Er, yes, well. Hope I don't see you again, loser!" He taunted, whipping around and racing through the door. He slammed it shut and slid down the cool wood, gripping his aching side. He reached up for the lock when...

_**BANG!**_

He leaped back up onto to his feet as two bullets whizzed past. It left one large hole in the door where they had gone through and mere inches away from where his head had just been. He dove out of the way as another blast from the shotgun ruined the door.

"Heeere's Ricky!" The janitor laughed, pressing his head up to the hole.

Computer jumped forward and jabbed his fingers into the old fool's eyes. Rick screamed and reeled backwards, giving Computer enough to ram the door open and flee. He tore down the hallway on fours, ignoring the absolute agony that burned through his torso as he did so. He'd take that awful pain over a missing head any day...

_**BANG!**_

Another barrage of bullets missed him by mere inches. He reached the end of the hall and ripped the last door open, hoping that this was the way to the garage. He tumbled through it and landed face first on concrete, confirming that he had indeed found the place. He felt several dogs grab his by his arms and pull him up. For a moment he was too lethargic to do anything. His vision kept fading in and out, threatening to lead him into unconsciousness.

"You ain't doin' so well." One of the dogs spoke.

He pressed a paw up against his head. "We all won't be doing very well if we don't get out of here soon! Courage!" He called.

"Everybody out of the way!" He heard the pup speak. Courage pushed through the crowd of animals and gasped the moment his eyes beheld his injury. "Oh man, that didn't look nearly as bad from far away."

"Thanks for paying attention." Computer grumbled out in reply. He pushed himself away from the dogs holding him up and swayed there for a moment. As soon as he was certain that he could stand without passing out, he reached forward and grabbed the pup by his shoulders. "We need to get out of here, _NOW_!" He yelled. "The old guy is packing and he is _not _messing around anymore!"

Several of the dogs gasped and a mummer ran through the crowd. Courage's ears drooped as their talk became fearful.

"We're all going to die!" Someone yelped.

"Don't panic!" Courage cried out, raising his paws to silence them. "Grab whatever you can find and get that door blocked! We're going to be fine just so long as we don't panic!"

The garage suddenly became very loud as the dogs began to talk and plan out their course of action. One dog offered to work on hijacking the van while several others grabbed the metal cages from inside it and propped them up against the door. It wasn't the best protection, but it would have to do for now.

The black, ominous van didn't look quiet as imposing with all the dogs piling into the back of it. They had to toss out everything that wasn't outright nailed to the floor to insure that they had enough room for everybody to fit. Vicious looking medical equipment, probably used to subdue unruly animals, lay forgotten on the floor.

Computer sighed with relief as he watched them work and nearly toppled over again from exhaustion. Now that he wasn't in danger of being cut in half or blown to pieces, he could finally...

"Oh, no..." He groaned, slapping his forehead. How could he have almost forgotten about _that_? He turned to Courage, who was supervising the dogs as they piled into the van, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Twit, we may have a problem."

"What _else _could go wrong?" The pup asked as he waved the dogs on. The line to get into the van was getting smaller and smaller every moment. A certainly welcomed improvement to their situation.

"I almost forgot about the bag!" Computer spoke.

Courage gave him a quizzical look. "Bag?"

"Yes, yes, the bag! Remember, the book, the tickets, the money?"

"O-oh! Oh, yeah!"

"I brought it along with me when I walked down here and I-"

He was cut off by a loud banging sound. The janitor was trying to get in. He could be heard cursing as he threw himself up against the barricaded door. The dogs still waiting to get into the van all gasped in terror and began to move even faster. Computer watched the frantic animals as they hurried along. Waiting for a moment of silence, he turned to Courage again.

"I brought the bag with me and tossed it into the bushes just outside the main doors. I suppose I didn't think we'd have to make some grand escape, but that doesn't matter now! I need to go retrieve it before we get out of here!"

Another bang on the door caught their attention. Courage nodded in agreement and pushed him forward. "Hurry! The janitor's busy with the door, but who knows how long that will last!"

"It'll only take me a second. This garage must be near the front of the building after all." He fought back the urge to sigh. Regardless of how close they were to the front of the building, he wasn't looking forward to walking around with his injury anymore. He didn't dare ask Courage to do it for him either. The pup had his paws full with the other dogs right now and he would _not_ sink so low as to ask that stupid twit for help! "You own me dearly for putting up with this madness." He sighed, shaking his head at the dog.

"A-are you sure you want to go out there by yourself?" Courage asked. He glanced down at his wound with a surprising amount of concern. "Me or one of the other dogs could-"

"I'm fine, twit! I'll be back in a moment! Don't you dare leave without me though!"

He pushed forward without another word, moving quickly enough so that the pup couldn't get in another word. He exited the garage from the front and moved across the building. He kept close to the wall just to be safe, not that the janitor would know that he was there anyway. Wincing, he placed a paw up against his wound again. As much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to appreciate the twit's ability to put up with this kind of nonsense on a daily basis.

End Of Chapter


	25. Round Three

Chapter 25: Round Three

Computer moved on. He was keeping himself pressed up against the building wall to offer himself some small amount of protection. The janitor's angry ranting could be heard echoing through an open window as he passed it. He was glad that the idiot still hadn't found a way to get past the barricaded door. As long as he was occupied with that, he wouldn't bother getting creative and finding another way around. Not that the man had any creativity to use in the first place...

The town of Nowhere was deserted at this hour, he noted. Not a single person could be found walking near the building and even the few cars driving around town avoided this road. The sun was so low in the sky that it connected with the horizon, tinting the landscape a golden color. Even a dull place like Nowhere looked nice in this unusual light.

A rumble of thunder caught Computer's attention. Menacing clouds were building up across from the setting sun. It's already dark spires were amplified by the golden light, making it appear even more threatening. If that thing continued to build up, they'd be in for one monster of a storm later.

_'Great.' _He though, letting out an audible sigh. '_Now we're going to get rained on too! Why must every last bit of annoyance have to happen to us today?'_

_**BANG!**_

Computer jumped at the sound of a gun going off and quietly cursed under his breath. Had Rick gotten through the door? No, that didn't seem likely. He could still be heard yelling through the open window. He must have gotten frustrated and tried to blow the door open.

Computer internally scolded himself for getting startled so easily. Flesh creature body or not, he wasn't like that twit after all. He'd never allow himself to get scared over something so stupid as a gunshot!

Another bang rang out as the janitor tried to blow open the door again. Computer kept moving, inching closer and closer to the front doors. He was just about to pick up his pace when the sound of squealing tires reached his ears. He turned to find the black van speeding out of the garage.

"You have got to be kidding me!" He yelled. "I told that idiot not to leave without me!"

One of the dogs must have panicked. Hearing those gunshots would have unsettled anyone, much less a group of already terrified dogs. Courage must not have been able to stop whoever was in the drivers seat. Either way, the van was already barreling down the street and away from the building...away from _him_.

Thinking fast, he raced forward and dived behind a bush near the two front doors. He quickly grabbed that ratty old bag and flung it over his shoulder. He jumped back out again and cringed as he realized just how far that van was getting away.

"There's no way I'll be able to catch up!" He growled. "There's got to be a way to-"

"AAAAAUUGHH! You little monsters!" Rick screamed, crashing through the front doors and racing over to the sidewalk. He waved his fist at the rapidly disappearing van and tossed his shotgun to the ground.

Computer took a step back, hoping to keep the janitor from noticing him. He would have tried to hide behind that bush again but of course his blue glow would have given him away immediately. If he could just sneak back into the building and hide...

"How could I let them escape?" The old man cried out. He placed his hands up against his face and began to sob. "I'm ruined! I'm completely rui-"

He stopped, suddenly becoming very quiet. He slowly turned to Computer, who felt his stomach drop at being seen so easily. Apparently his blue glow _had _tipped the old man off.

Rick began to smile. "They abandoned you, didn't they? Hahaha! I don't believe this!" He reached down to pick his gun up. "I may have lost, but I still get to finish you off! Too bad! I guess your little friends didn't think so highly of you after all!"

Computer glanced around, unsure of what to do now. He had no means of escape. The man had a clear shot no matter which way he might try to run. As bad of a shot as the old janitor might be, there was no way he could possibly miss this time.

"Guess what, mutt?" Rick asked. "I ain't even going to let you have any last words this time! Say good night, doggy!"

Computer cringed as the shotgun was lined up with his forehead. Well, so much for saving Courage. This looked like the...

_Click..._

They both stared, completely dumbfounded on equal grounds. Rick pulled the trigger again but only got another click. It took them both a moment to realize that he had run out of ammo!

"No!" He yelled. "No, no, no, no!"

He reached into his pocked to grab what Computer could only assume was some more ammo and he, of course, took that moment of distraction to run. Rick unfortunately knew what he was going to do and jumped forward to catch him. He landed right on top of him, using one arm to hold him down and the other to fish for bullets.

Struggling against the grip of that awful man, Computer pushed as hard as he could. He aimed one of his legs and began kicking the man in his face as many times as he could. Rick would not budge though and thus both of them were locked into place, trying to outdo one another.

"Get...off...of...me!" Computer yelled out between kicks.

"You're dead dog! Dead!" Rick growled back.

Realizing that he had only one option left, Computer fought back his revulsion at knowing what he would have to do. If being forced to sink this low would save his life, well, he'd take it! Sighing with annoyance, he opened his mouth and bit down on the janitor's arm.

"RAAAHH!" Rick cried out. He jumped to his feet and swung Computer around in an effort to get him off. He held on tight, hoping that he could come up with an escape plan quick. The old man obviously wasn't going to let him get away so easily and this little biting trick of his wouldn't do much to stop him for good.

"Let go of me, you mutt!" The old man yelled. He swung his glowing menace forward one last time and that was the exact moment when Computer decided to use the momentum to make his escape. He released his jaw from the man's arm and was flung several feet through the air. The moment he hit the ground he made a mad dash for the road. He didn't care where he was going or why, just so long as he put enough distance between him and that crazy janitor as possible. He could worry about getting back to Courage later.

_**BANG! **_

A shot rang out and he felt a bullet graze his fur. Even now that damnable janitor wasn't giving up! Thank goodness he was such a bad shot at least! Somehow, someway, Computer was finding hidden reserves of energy in this dog body to keep going. His injury ached more than anything now and it felt like his lungs were about to collapse, but he kept running anyway. He'd never known what it was like to feel physically tired until today and it was absolutely awful.

_**BANG!**_

Another shot missed him by mere inches. If he could only just get a little farther away...

_**SKREEEEE**_

The sound of squealing tires made him flinch. He glanced up to find that the black van was barreling right towards him. Relief struck him at the sight of it. Courage had gotten those idiots to come back!

He continued racing forward, ignoring everything else around him. The van wasn't close enough to help him yet and Rick was still...

_**BANG!**_

This time a sharp stabbing pain struck him in the leg and he fell forward, his muzzle hitting the pavement and him temporarily dazed. Fighting back a groan, he sat up. It appeared that his leg had only been grazed, but it was bleeding now too and very much burning with pain. He doubted he could run anymore, and if Rick tried to hit him again...

He gasped and looked up. The old fool was indeed lining up another shot. Computer glared at him, hoping desperately that the man would miss again. He tried to stand up but found it impossible to do. Despite his best efforts, he was nothing more than a sitting duck ready to be shot to death.

_**BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

He shut his eyes and waited for barrage the bullets to hit him...but then he heard the black van swing forward and stop right in front of him. It blocked out every last one of them. They all harmlessly bounce off the metal on the other side.

The back doors of the van ripped open and several dogs jumped out to help him up. They moved as quickly as possible to get him inside because Rick was still firing off as much ammo as possible and they couldn't angle the van any better to keep the back safe from fire. The doors acted as a natural bullet repellent but one lucky shot could still be the end of one of them.

"Sorry we're late!" A female dog cheerfully said to him. He had almost mistaken her for Courage before she spoke. She looked just like the pup, given that she was the same breed as both him and the body Computer himself was currently inhabiting. She reached a paw out to help him up into the van and he accepted it. He would have given her a sarcastic reply but he was far too tired to bother with it right now.

_**BANG! BANG!**_

"That guy just isn't giving up, is he?" She asked. Now that he could get a closer look at her she was indeed a bit different from Courage. Her fur was a light pink color in contrast to the pup's more purple fur. She had long eyelashes, which as far as Computer could tell seemed to be a common trait among female animals. Her ears were also a bit shorter than the dog's, and much more oddly shaped.

It was a bit of a tight fit in the back of the van, but he managed to find some space. The dogs who had helped him piled back in and then they were off again. As the van sped away, Computer caught one last glimpse of Rick through the backdoor windows. The man soundlessly screamed with rage and toss his shotgun to ground. Computer smiled and waved to the idiot which only evoked more soundless angry cries from the man. Then they turned down a road and Rick the janitor was gone.

Numbness and a terrible bought of dizziness reminded Computer of his body's injury. He hadn't gotten a chance to switch bodies and now he wasn't sure how much longer this one would last. He tried to force the dizziness away but he couldn't get it to stop. A ringing in his ears started to drowned out most other sounds. His vision kept blurring no matter how many times he blinked and his mouth had gone dry.

He took a step forward, trying to push his way through the group of dogs. He needed to find Courage and give that stupid twit a piece of his mind. If he were about to die, he at least wanted to go out doing what he was good at.

End Of Chapter


	26. The Dog Veterinarian

Chapter 26: The Dog Veterinarian

Courage sighed with relief as the van sped off again. He knew he'd never hear the end of it from Computer, but at least he had gotten back to him in time. The dog who had hit the gas in a panic hadn't listened to anything he said. It was only after the raving animal had been wrestled from the drivers seat that they'd been able to go back.

Another dog of the same breed as him wrestled their way through the crowd. He was surprised to find that she was a girl once she began to talk.

"I got your friend back for you." She said with a wink. "You'd better watch out though, he seemed pretty angry with you."

The unusual dog had an air of authority about her that he really liked. All the other dogs were waiting to be led but she seemed like the type who'd jump in and help other people just as easily as he would.

His musings were cut short when he got a sharp poke in the side. He turned around to confront whoever was poking him and met two very angry glowing, blue eyes.

"YOU!" Computer yelled, this time poking him in the chest. "I nearly died because of you, you infernal idiot!"

Courage took a step back and giggled sheepishly. "Sorry! Ehehehe!"

"I swear that nothing but bad things have happened to me ever since I started helping you! I've fallen down stairs, gotten my monitor bashed in, kicked, punched, and nearly _euthanized_!" The glowing dog angrily slapped his forehead. "And that's not even mentioning the fact that I nearly got cut in half _and _almost had my brains blown out! Honestly!"

Courage gave him a weak smile. "It's a, um...occupational hazard?"

Computer scowled at him. "You are the worst! I swear I'm going to...to..." He suddenly began to struggle with his words. His eyes became very unfocused.

Courage took a step forward to help him. "Computer?" He asked.

The machine swayed there for a moment. He placed a paw up against his head...and then toppled backwards with a thud.

"Oh no!" Courage yelped, racing forward to help the irate machine. He placed a paw onto his arm but the glowing dog did not stir. When he reached over to get a pulse, the female dog stepped forward and stopped him.

"Let me see." She said, kneeling down beside him.

"I-I shouldn't have had him fight that janitor!" Courage cried out helplessly. "He's not going to make it, is he?"

She shook her head. "He's lost a lot of blood, but..." Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the glowing dog. "If we can get him to stop bleeding, he should be fine. He'll be hurting quite a bit, but he will live."

"H-how can you be sure of that?" He asked, unconvinced.

She smiled again. "I'm a veterinarian myself! Obviously I'm not like those people back there though!"

"W-wha..." He gasped. "B-but isn't that supposed to be a human profession? Why were you locked up like the rest of us dogs then?"

She grinned and placed her paws behind her head. "It _is_ pretty strange when a dog does what a human is supposed to do. I know most of our kind likes to be pets, but I always wanted to do something more with myself. Well, I came here looking for work but then they locked me up like I was some kind of stray!"

Courage nodded. "What can we do to help my friend then?"

"I'm going to need a lot of bandaging to get this big wound closed up." She pointed down at the giant gash running across Computer's torso. "It would be a lot better if I could use some stitches but we're just going to have to work with what we have. This isn't exactly ideal conditions after all."

"Where are we going to get any bandages?" Courage asked.

The female dog pressed her paws up against Computer's ax wound to try and stem off the bleeding. "Anything that I can wrap around him will work at this point." She said. "I really hate having to do it like this but we need to improvise if he's going to live!"

One of the dogs stepped forward. "I can give you this." He said, offering up a ratty old shirt that he had been wearing.

Indeed, many of the dogs in the group were wearing clothes like normal humans. Courage was admittedly used to this sort of thing as he had met quite a few dogs over the years who lived like everyday people. He shuttered just to think about that Mad Dog and his group of thugs! Were most of the animals in this van independent? Had they been captured just for not having owners of their own?

Several more dogs stepped forward and offered whatever they had. The female dog grabbed what she needed and made deft work out of the articles of clothing. Soon enough, all of Computer's injuries were covered.

"Almost done!" She said, tying up the last knot of her makeshift bandaging.

Computer still looked like a mess but at least he wasn't at a risk of bleeding out now. Courage half expected him to get up at any moment and start berating him again like nothing had happened.

"Is he-" He began, glancing back over at the female dog.

"He'll wake up soon enough, don't worry." She reassured him.

They worked together to pick the glowing dog up and move him closer to the back of the van. That way he could rest without the risk of being trampled on by another dog. It was still a bit cramped back there but at least he wasn't as likely to be stepped on now.

"Ugh, ow..." He groaned, briefly regaining consciousness as they set him down. He opened his eyes for a moment and stared at the two dogs watching over him. "Just what is...uuugh..." He began, holding his head in his paws. His voice trailed off as he quickly slipped back into unconsciousness.

Courage glanced over at the female dog again with a worried look. She merely shrugged and laughed, "He's fine! You worry way too much!"

He sighed and sat down beside Computer, reassured and relaxed by the female dog's encouraging demeanor. She too followed his example and slid down next to him.

"So, what's your name?" She asked.

"Courage." He replied.

"And what's his?"

"Erm, Computer..."

"That's a weird name!" She laughed. "So, is he like from England or something?"

"E-England?" Courage stammered out, surprised to be asked something like that.

"Well, yeah! You don't talk like that if you're from America!"

"I-I don't know. I've never asked him."

"Why's he all glowy like that? I've never seen any dog like him before and I've seen a lot of dogs in my work! He looks radioactive!"

"I don't know. He's just glowy, I guess." Courage replied. He really hated having to give her such non-answers. Here he was with nothing interesting to say to a dog who was actually interested in all the general weirdness of his life.

"Well, enough about him. What about you?" She asked.

"Me? I live on a farm out here in the middle of Nowhere."

"You've got an owner, right? What is he or she like?"

"Well, there's Muriel. She's the nicest person I know!" He couldn't help but smile just thinking about her. "She always knows right where to scratch me behind my ears, cooks the best food in the world, always lets me nap in her lap, and..." He trailed off on that one word. The smile faded from his lips and he let his ears droop until they touched his back. "...we used to do everything together, before I got sick."

"Sick?" She asked, craning her head to the side. "Is that why you were locked up by those vets? Did they even try to make you better?"

Courage cupped his paws together. He was feeling particularly depressed now, having almost completely forgotten why he had been stuck with those vets in the first place.

"It's a long story..." He sighed.

End Of Chapter


	27. Comeuppance

Chapter 27: Comeuppance

"My illness is fatal." Courage continued. "It can't be cured at all. Muriel took me down to the veterinarian office to be euthanized because..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "...because she thought it would be best for me."

He hated having to admit that Muriel wanted to do that to him, even if she was doing it for a good reason. She didn't want him to suffer, that was all. She was acting purely out of love for him. He really did have to wonder if she would ever find out that he had escaped his fate...

The female dog's expression became surprisingly sad at his words. "I know how she feels. Sometimes in my work, you've got to let a person's loved one go rather than watch them continue to suffer. It's a shame that dogs almost always go before their owners. Were you intentionally trying to get away then?"

"Yeah." Courage sighed. "I-I don't want to die."

The female dog stared upwards and let a small smile cross her face. "I heard someone say once that dogs always go first so that their owners have someone waiting for them at the end. I think it's a beautiful way to look at things. A person and their faithful companion walking into the light together, never to be separated again."

Courage bit his lip, knowing fully well that if he survived his illness he would very likely outlive Muriel. So much for being that faithful companion, huh? He didn't want to think about it though, not ever, and he especially didn't want to subscribe to the belief that dogs were meant to die before their owners.

"Well," He said when she did not continue. "We're looking for a way to stop my illness." He pointed over to Computer who was still more than just a little knocked out at that moment. "He's an old friend of mine and he may have found a way to cure my illness. He's always helped me out for as long as I can remember and this may be our biggest operation yet."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" The female dog asked with a surprising amount of sympathy.

"No, I'm pretty much stuck." He sighed. "Until my illness is fixed, I have to live through whatever it does to me."

She placed a paw onto his shoulder. "I'm sorry about what's happening to you. I have to watch people suffer all the time and I often can't do anything to help them. My job tends to be...a bit harsh at times."

"Don't worry about it." Courage replied with a smile. "I'm doing pretty well despite my illness!"

Her face began to light back up again. "That's good! I hope you find your cure, Courage!"

An hour passed and soon full darkness fell upon Nowhere. Continuous bolts of lightening lit up the sky in the distance. Soon they would be feeling the full force of that storm. The van continued to move down the road, farther and farther into the deserted parts of Nowhere.

Courage stretched out and yawned. Despite feeling tired, he still felt good. Today's events had ignited a spark in him that he had thought had long gone out for good. He could still help people despite his illness! He could still do the right thing even when he was being hindered! For month now he had been forced to wallow around the farm, too afraid to do anything that might aggravate his condition. He was finally up and moving again, able to do more than just sulk and worry about his illness. Sure, he knew that an attack was somewhere on the horizon, but he'd worry about it when it actually happened rather than worry about it all the time.

A groan caught his attention and he turned to Computer. The machine slowly sat up and clasped his head. He glanced down at the clothing covering his torso and leg and then looked back up at the two dogs sitting beside him. He reached up and felt his ear which had also been covered up by cloth.

"Are you alright?" Courage asked.

"No, I'm not alright." He replied with another groan. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck." He winced and leaned back again.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're still with us!" The female dog said cheerfully.

Computer raised an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"I helped you into the van, remember?"

"Obviously! But what I mean is-"

"She saved your life!" Courage pipped in.

The machine placed his paws on his hips, clearly not convinced that she had done anything. "Oh really?" He asked.

"Yep!" She laughed. "I'm a veterinarian too! I knew exactly what to do to fix you up!"

Computer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right! Dogs can't be veterinarians!"

"What's stopping us? They didn't give me any trouble when I signed up for school!"

He blinked at her question. "It's just not right!"

The female dog shrugged. "If it wasn't right, you wouldn't be standing here right now."

"Whatever!" He grumbled. "I don't suppose you know where we're going at least?"

"Uh, actually..." Courage butted in, turning to the female dog. "Where _are _we going?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't think to ask."

"Great! So we've been driving all this time and you idiots didn't even bother to find out where we're going!"

The female dog shrugged again and called out to the driver. "Hey! Where are we heading?"

The dog at the wheel called back with. "Dunno, I was just going to keep driving until we run out of gas. We should have hit the next city over by then."

Computer tried to stand up but only managed to fall right back over again. "No, no, no! We need to stay in Nowhere! We've got a bus to catch tomorrow and I certainly don't want to get stuck in an unfamiliar city!"

The female dog shook her head again. "We can't take you back to town now. They'll be looking for all the escaped dogs! If we dropped you off there they'd just catch you and lock you up again."

Computer placed a paw up against his chin. "Come to think of it, shouldn't we be getting near Nowhere Forest by now? That is assuming if you're going in the direction I think you're going."

"W-what?" Courage asked him. "Why would you even bring up that awful place!"

Computer turned to him and smiled. "We could hide out there for the night! They wouldn't dare go looking for us in that forest!"

Courage let out a yelp and began to shake just at the thought of that terrible forest. He had endured so many awful things in there...

Computer waved a paw dismissively at his fear. "Don't be such a scaredy dog!"

"W-we can't stay in there! I-it isn't s-safe!" He stammered out.

"Yes, yes, I know that there are a lot of supernatural creatures in that forest, but I know what every single one of them might be and I know how to deal with them! We'll be fine! Would you rather get caught by those veterinarians instead?"

"But...but..." Courage whimpered out.

The glowing dog gave him a malicious smile. "So it's settled then? I guess we're staying in the forest overnight!"

N-n-n-no!" Courage stammered. He was too frightened to do anything else and he _knew _that Computer was doing this just to be mean! He knew how much that place scared him and was intentionally trying to make him afraid!

"You'll be fine, twit!" He laughed, slapping the shivering pup on the back. "I'm telling you now, nothing bad will happen! You're just a big, stupid, scaredy dog!"

The female dog didn't look particularly happy about all of this. "Alright, if that's really what you want." She said reluctantly. "Driver, take us closer to Nowhere forest!"

Computer continued to taunt poor Courage as the driver changed his course for the forest. He was clearly enjoy the dog's terror and was doing everything possible to rile him up even more.

"I bet that pterodactyl creature is going to swoop down and get you this time!" He laughed. "Or maybe that muck monster!"

"NOOO!" Courage screamed, trying to hide his face behind his paws. Not that muck monster again! He couldn't bear to face that thing again!

Computer laughed and slapped himself on the knee. "You really are the biggest scaredy twit to ever exist!"

"You're going to regret this, you know." The female dog said very quietly. Her voice had barely even been above a whisper.

"Excuse me?" Computer asked, slowly turning to her. "Is that a threat? Are you seriously trying to stand up for this cowardly idiot?"

"No, I'm just saying that you're going to regret going into that forest."

"And why is that?" He asked, crossing his arms. "What do you know about that forest that I don't? There's not a single monster in there that can harm me!"

She gave him a soft smile. "You're not going to heed my warning, are you?"

"Why should I? You're just some stupid dog! I have more knowledge stored in one microchips than you have in every last corner of that tiny pea you call a brain!"

She turned away and shook her head, still smiling. "I suppose it's for the best that things happen like this." She whispered. "But don't say I didn't warn you in the end."

"What are you mumbling on about?" He asked. "If you're trying to change my mind for that twit's sake, don't even bother!"

By the time they pulled up to the forest, the storm was nearly overhead. Rumbles of thunder shook the van and lightening lit up the sky so frequently that it illuminated all of their dark surroundings like a natural flashlight.

Courage sighed, wishing more than anything that he wasn't here right now. He found himself getting more and more angry with Computer as every second went by. If they didn't find shelter somewhere in that forest, they'd be left out to weather the massive storm. How could Computer be so stupid? All of this just because it was funny to him?

Courage hopped out of the van, whimpering as he gazed up at the forest's dark silhouette. The female dog jumped out next to him and nodded. She was sympathetic to his plight but she wouldn't take the initiative to stop Computer. Perhaps she didn't want to get into a fight with him?

He glanced down at the grass touching his feet. The barren soil of Nowhere gave way to grass near the forest. It was the only place around that was capable of growing greenery. If it were by some supernatural force or something else, Courage wasn't sure and he didn't want to find out either.

"I don't need your help!" He heard Computer shout.

He turned to find the machine glaring angrily down at the female dog from inside the van. She had offered a paw to help him and he obviously had not taken very kindly to it.

"Come on! Don't be so stubborn!" She argued. "Let me help you down! You're still hurt and you still need help!"

He waved a paw and sneered at her. "I don't need anyone's help! Especially not _yours_!"

"You can barely even walk! Just give me your paw!"

"Don't you dare bark orders at me, lady!"

"There's no need to act like this! I'm just trying to help you!"

"I don't need your help!"

Sighing, she relented and backed off, Computer glaring at her the whole way. He raised a foot to exit the van and then winced in pain. He tried to catch himself before he fell out but failed at the last moment and landed square on his face.

"I tried." The female dog sighed, rolling her eyes.

He sat up and rubbed his muzzle, glaring at the two dogs staring at him. He got onto his feet and limped forward, holding his head high as he did so as to preserve what little dignity he had left.

Courage was much too angry with the machine to try and help him now, and he knew he'd probably get yelled at if he tried anyway. He wanted more than anything at that moment to tell Computer off for his stubborn stupidity, but didn't dare try as he knew it would only ignite a massive argument between the both of them.

The van's engine started back up again. Courage said his goodbyes to all the dogs and then watched as the vehicle sped off into the darkness. Now only he, the female dog, and Computer remained. Not the greatest company to say the least.

"Well, that's the end of that." The female dog said, stretching her arms out. "It does feel good to be out of that cramped van though."

"Whatever! Computer snapped. "Why are you still here anyway? Why didn't you leave with those losers?"

"Because you're still injured and you might still need a doctor."

A brief moment of shock fell over his face before he masked it with another sneer. "I said I didn't need any help! You're not wanted anymore so shoo!"

The female dog gave him a shrug. "Courage, your friend is a bit of a jerk, isn't he?" She asked, turning to him.

"Excuse me?" Computer asked, stomping forward. "What did you just call me, you wretched little-"

"Computer! Leave her alone!" Courage interrupted. He stepped forward and put himself between his newly made friend and the irate machine.

A snide smile fell across Computer's face. "Oh, I see. Are you trying to defend your new girlfriend? Is that it, idiot? How stupid! You couldn't get a girlfriend even if you were the last male dog on Earth!"

"G-girlfriend?" He gasped. He immediately felt his face turn red and didn't dare look over at the female dog.

"You're one to talk!" She pipped in. "A snooty, insecure jerk like yourself wouldn't ever get a girl! Any self respecting dog would take Courage over the likes of you any day!"

"Ha! As if I would ever want to hook up with one of you disgusting flesh creatures! I'm above all of your stupid mating rituals! I-" He stopped halfway through the word and stared at the angry dog. "Did you just call me insecure?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Of course!" She challenged. "Nobody acts this stuck up unless they're hiding behind a _ton _of insecurities."

He crossed his arms in a huff. "Insecurities? I'm just stuck dealing with a bunch of twits, that's all! You'd act the same if you had to go through what I do on a daily basis!"

A sly smile fell across the female dog's face. "You know what they say about bullies. They only bully to feel better about themselves."

Computer's frown somehow managed to deepen even further. "Bully? What, are we in a schoolyard now? What a childish notion!"

"I'm pretty sure there's only one person here who's being childish right now." She went on, turning to Courage. "I'm telling you, Courage. It's all about insecurities! Just look at the way he acts!"

"I told you already! I'm not insecure!" Computer shot back angrily. "And stop talking to that dog like he knows anything!"

"You're a dog too, right?" She asked him slyly. "Let me guess, you've had a bunch of owners? I assume someone like you gets shuffled around a lot. I don't see anyone keeping such a snobby dog around for very long."

"Hmph! I am not some common house pet! I don't have owners, just a bunch of annoying people that I have to put up with for an extended period of time!"

"And how many of these 'annoying people' have you had to deal with?"

"Too many! And for your information, it's none of your business!"

"Let me guess, if you've had 'too many', then I'm sure at least a few of them have treated you pretty badly. Now you're taking that out on everybody else, aren't you?" Her eyes narrowed. "People who get treated horribly tend to start acting that way themselves. It's considered a self defense mechanism, you know."

The machine waved a paw, trying to blow her off and the things she were saying. "What? Are you a closet psychologist or something? Don't pretend you can get inside my head! I just don't like any of you, that's all! You stupid, worthless flesh creatures are all alike, and a dime a dozen too!"

"Hmm, is that so?" The female dog went on. "Why does what I say upset you so badly then?"

Shock fell over the machine's face. Courage almost had to laugh at how easily his new friend was schooling Computer. He wasn't sure if anything she were saying was true or not, but watching Computer lose his composure _was _amusing.

"Bah, you're just one of those stupid psychologist types!" The glowing dog argued. "You always try to put something there that isn't actually there! Next you'll be telling me to pay you for your 'help'!"

"If you wouldn't close that stubborn mind of yours you'd realize that I _am_ trying to help you."

"Help me? You're just lying! Everything you've said so far is just one big lie! Hpmh! I don't have to listen to anymore of this garbage!" He turned on his heels and began to limp away. "Come on, twit! We're leaving!" He called.

"You don't want to face what's in that forest." The female dog warned him yet again. "This is your last chance to turn back."

"I'll go where I please!" He shot back. "Twit, what are you doing? Let's go!"

Courage remained beside the female dog, unwilling to go with Computer. He did not want to enter that forest, no matter how much the machine tried to goad him into it. Computer looked so furious at his defiance that he was almost afraid that the glowing dog would jump forward and try to drag him into the thicket.

"Fine!" The glowing dog snapped. "Stay with your stupid girlfriend then! I'm leaving!"

And with that, he stomped off.

"Wait, Computer!" Courage called out. As much as liked seeing him get schooled, there was no way he could let Computer go into the forest all alone. He'd hoped that if he refused to go with him, the machine would relent and decided to hide somewhere else, but it wasn't happening.

"Not listening!" Computer replied smugly, his form slowing disappearing in among the trees.

Courage took a step forward and whimpered to himself, "I don't want to go in there, but I gotta..."

He turned around, wondering why the female dog wasn't following him. "Come with us!" He begged. "I know Computer is hard to deal with but it would be nice to have someone else with me! If he gives you trouble about it, I'll just tell him to knock it off!"

He did indeed want her to come with him. It would be nice to have someone else with him on their journey up the mountain, someone who wouldn't constantly arguing with him. He loved how easily she had knocked Computer down a couple of pegs. Someone like that would be invaluable against his nigh unending battle with Computer's argumentative nature.

She smiled and shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't. I've got places to be, unfortunately. Being locked up in that cage for such a long time has really set me back with my work."

Courage's ears drooped. "W-will I ever see you again then?"

She reached forward and placed both her paws onto his shoulders. "It's inevitable." Her smile was unusually sad as she said that. So, he really wasn't going to see her again, was he?

He sighed as she let go of him and turned to leave. She glanced back at him one last time before she headed over to the road and began walking down it.

"Hey!" He called out to her. "You never told me your name!"

Her face lit up with that same wonderful smile again upon being asked that question. He could see it even in darkness just barely being illuminated by lightning.

"How about we leave that until we meet again?" She asked. "Then you'll have something to look forward to!"

Courage couldn't help but smile himself, reassured that maybe this wouldn't be their only meeting. "Okay!" He agreed. "See you around then!"

"Yep!" She called back. "Don't worry, Courage! I'm sure everything will work out with your illness! Just keep that friend of yours in check, okay?"

He opened his mouth to reply, if only because he wanted her to stay just a little while longer, but then there was a particularly bright flash of lightening. He was forced to close his eyes as the bolt hit something nearby. When he could finally open them again, the female dog was gone...almost like she had never even been there in the first place...

End Of Chapter


	28. Out Of The Frying Pan

Chapter 28: Out Of The Frying Pan

Courage fumbled his way through the forest. He kept tripping over outstretched roots and just anything else that could find a way to catch his feet. He was starting to think that maybe the forest was intentionally trying to trip him up. If it weren't for the constant bolts of lightening lighting up the sky, he could have easily have walked right into the jaws of a monster and have never even known it.

The wind was picking up now and while it hadn't started raining yet, he could smell the wetness in the air. If he didn't find Computer soon they'd both stuck out in the middle of the massive storm. Thunder kept shaking the ground, almost to the point of where it would knock him off his feet. He was getting more and more furious with Computer for running off in a place like this. How hard could it be to find a glowing dog in the middle of the night? Unless he were in the belly of some creature, his glow should have been noticeable from miles away!

A branch whipped Courage in the face. He grit his teeth, letting his anger get the better of him, and stomped forward. He stopped for a moment to kick a tree out of sheer and then kept moving.

Growling softly, he quietly cursed under his breath. Another branch whipped forward in the wind and struck him across his muzzle. Stupid Computer! This was all his fault!

Just as he was about to turn around and leave Computer to his fate, he caught a glimmer moving in among the trees not far from where he was now. Bounding forward on all fours, he made his way over there.

"Computer!" He called out, unable to mask the anger in his voice. He tried to stifle his seething hatred of the machine for a moment, but even then he could barely holding it back. Stupid, stupid Computer! He always had to think he was right about everything! They were going to die in this place because of him!

As he neared the machine, a sneer fell across the glowing dog's face. "So, I see you've come crawling back!" He said with an incredible amount of smugness.

That seething hatred within Courage's gut exploded at Computer's snide remark. He clenched his fist in a desperate attempt to keep his cool, but even that was barely working.

"Here I was thinking you had gone and run off with your _real _friend because _obviously _she knows how to save your worthless hide better than I do." He crossed his arms and began to tap his foot, clearly oblivious to the rage that was boiling over within Courage at every word he said to him. "You know," He went on. "I should make you beg for my help, especially after all the things you've been putting me through. I don't know why I keep bothering with an idiot like you!"

"Shut up!" Courage finally yelled. "You're the one who's an idiot! We're walking around in one of the most dangerous places in all of Nowhere because of you!"

"_I'm _the idiot?" Computer snapped. "Why should I even continue helping you? I've been in this body for less than I day and I'm already in tatters! There's absolutely nothing stopping me from leaving, you know! But hey, you've got that stupid friend of yours to help you out now! Let's see her try and cure your illness, hmm?"

Courage grit is teeth. "Don't you _dare _talk about her like that!"

"Ha! You're just angry because I shooed your stupid girlfriend off! She was less than worthless!"

Courage squeezed his eyes shut and stomped his foot. "She is not my girlfriend! And you're twice as worthless as she ever was!"

"Not your girlfriend? Yeah, right!" Computer sneered. "You were practically floating through the air with hearts bubbling all around you! Too bad you're such a wimp that she dumped you not even ten minutes after meeting you! Hahaha!"

"SHUT UP!" Courage screamed. His rage was to an absolute boiling point now. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. Every single word he spoke was only blown off by Computer like it were nothing at all. Not a single thing fazed the machine in any way.

"Are we done yet? The glowing dog asked in a bored tone. He rolled his eyes at Courage who opened his mouth to speak again. "Don't even bother. You're obviously just going to try and defend your stupid, worthless girlfri-"

_**WHAM!**_

Before Courage even realized what he had done, his fist had connected with Computer's jaw. The machine reeled backwards, clasping his muzzle. The shocked expression which replaced his smug smile was immensely pleasing to see.

A moment of silence followed before Computer turned away, still clasping his muzzle. "Hmph! Twits always have to resort to violence, don't they? You couldn't win an argument with an old paper bag!"

"I told you to shut up!" Courage screamed, his voice echoing through the forest. Even now that stubborn computer wasn't relenting! His anger was so acute that he could practically feel steam coming out of his ears now! Why did Computer always have to strive for the last word? Why couldn't he just give up!

"If anyone needs to shut up, it's you, dog!" He snapped back.

Courage let a cry of anger and pushed the glowing dog to the ground. "Why did I have to get stuck with a jerk like you?" He asked, snarling out every word he spoke. "Why couldn't I have gotten a _normal _computer? A _proper _computer? If you want to leave, then leave! I'd rather not be cured at all than have to keep dealing with someone like you!"

"Not a proper computer?" The machine asked in a vicious tone. He got back up onto his feet and pushed Courage away this time. "I'll show you a proper computer!"

Courage made his paw into a fist again and swung it as hard as he could. He struck Computer square in the muzzle, sending the glowing dog reeling backwards yet again.

"Enough!" He yelled, holding onto his muzzle. "I don't _care _if you hate me and I don't _care _if you wish I were a normal computer, but I will _not _allow you to-"

_**WHAM!**_

Courage hit him again. This time the machine collapsed onto the ground, groaning weakly from the blow he had received.

"I hate you so much!" Courage growled. "You always have to make fun of me, call me names, treat me like I don't have a single brain cell in my body, and now you make fun of my friends too! I'm tired of always being put down and treated like dirt! You're just a stupid computer! That's all! Just because you can talk doesn't make you anymore special than any other piece of hardware! All I'd have to do is throw you in the garbage and that would be the end of you!"

The machine slowly sat up, gripping his newly bruised muzzle. "I am_ not _any old piece of hardware, you idiot! Don't dare talk to me like-"

"RAAHHH!" Courage screamed, tackling him to the ground. He raised his paw and punched him again. For once in his life he was not going to let Computer bully him. This was his revenge!

"Courage, stop! You're acting like-"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" He screamed, cutting the machine's plea short with another blow. He kept hitting him over and over again, ranting with every breath he took.

"I hate you!" He yelled. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate-" He stopped halfway through his incoherent screaming. He left his fist hanging in midair as the implications of what he was doing hit him like a rocket. Shock, horror and revulsion rolled through him as it became more and more clear that he had completely lost it. He couldn't believe that he had just tried to beat someone senseless, not even someone as nasty as Computer!

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no!" He whimpered. "Computer, I-I'm sorry! I'm s-so, so sorry!" He stammered out.

The glowing dog had his eyes squeezed shut and Courage, much to his complete and utter shock, could feel him trembling under his grip. He let the machine go and got back up onto his feet, taking several steps back to try and put as much distance between him and Computer as possible.

"I-I'm sorry..." He repeated as the machine slowly opened his eyes. "Here, let me-" He slowly reached a paw down to help him up.

"Don't you dare touch me!" He snarled, swatting the paw away.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, _sure _you're sorry!" He snapped back. "As if you actually mean it! I'm just a stupid machine to you after all! There's no point in apologizing to a non-person, huh? Bah! You flesh creatures are all the same! Well, if this is how you're going to treat me from now on, I'll jus-"

_**CRASH!**_

At that very moment, a bolt of lightning struck a tree not even two paces away from them. Courage was nearly sent flying off his feet from the thunderclap that followed. The tree that was hit burst into flames and both he and Computer were forced to scramble away to save themselves from the fireball. An onslaught of rain followed right after, quenching the flame that could have turned into a deadly forest fire. The wind ramped up to an incredible gale, nearly knocking Courage off his feet almost as easily as the thunderclap had. He had to grab a tree trunk just to keep himself standing upright.

"Hey, grab my paw!" He called out to Computer. The glowing dog was being knocked around by the wind, running into tree trunks and all but being whipped to death by branches. Courage himself had to use every last ounce of strength he had to keep himself attached to the tree trunk he was holding onto.

"Computer!" He called out again. His voice was barely even intelligible among all the chaos that was happening all around them.

The machine glanced over at him, his expression unreadable, and then turned away. He was sent flying again and crashed into another tree trunk. Before he could even right himself, another gust of wind flung him forward into another tree, and then another, and another...

"Oooh, this isn't good..." Courage whimpered, letting go of the one thing that was keeping him in place. He sailed forward in an uncontrolled flight and just before he could get to Computer, he was sent flying in one direction while Computer in another.

He could only watch as the glowing dog suddenly vanished, his blue light somehow disappearing into the darkness even though it shouldn't have. Courage opened his mouth to call out to him but instead got clobbered by another branch...

"Dog, over here!" He heard the machine say, much to his surprise. Neither he nor his glow could be found anywhere among the darkness. "Hurry up! Before it get's worse!" He called out again from somewhere unseen.

Fighting against the wind, Courage made his way over to where Computer's voice was coming from. The machine's head suddenly popped up very close to the ground, startling him. Was he...underground? A flash of lightening gave Courage a better picture of what was going on here. He was standing before a massive dead tree, who's bare branches swayed ominously in the wind. Its gigantic gnarly roots almost seemed to suspend the tree up into the air, leaving a natural den under it to use as shelter. Computer must have tumbled down into it through one of the larger openings thanks to the gale pushing him about.

"Don't just stand there!" He yelled. "Get in here!"

Courage squeezed through two roots to get inside and slid down a slight incline. The inside was surprisingly roomy and Computer's glow kept the place lit. It was relatively dry despite the downpour outside and it kept the worst of the wind away, thus keeping them from getting blown around.

Neither dog spoke to one another after that. Computer made himself comfortable on one side of the den and Courage on the other. An invisible line had been drawn between them and that was that. Actually, Computer was pretending that Courage wasn't there at all. The moment he had sat down he had whipped out that book from within their bag and had buried his face into it.

Courage stifled a sigh, now feeling the full force of his own guilt. _'Why did I let myself blow up like that?' _He thought to himself._ 'What if Computer really _does_ leave once this storm is over?' _He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. The roots didn't do much to block out the cold and he was frigid in his wet fur.

Still shivering, he closed his eyes. He was as much in awe of his own actions as he were left guilty by them. He couldn't believe that he had actually managed to faze that snarky machine. Computer really _had _been scared of him, something which he had never thought possible! A million apologies floated through his mind, but he knew that Computer would never accept even one of them. He'd go on pretending that nothing had happened and he'd certainly never acknowledge that he had been beaten up by a 'twit'.

Courage glanced over at the machine, surprised to find that Computer was peaking over his book and had probably been staring at him for quite some time. The glowing dog immediately buried his muzzle back into it the moment he realized he had been spotted and that was, yet again, the end of it. They both remained mute to one another. Neither tried to break the awkward silence between them.

Courage shook his head and turned away. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to fix what he did today. An apology would never work, but what else could he do? He was stuck. If he lost Computer, well, that would be the end of him!

End Of Chapter


	29. And Into The Fire

Chapter 29: And Into The Fire

Courage was finding himself getting more and more paranoid as the storm rolled on. There were in Nowhere Forest, after all. It was sheer dumb luck that a werewolf or something even more horrible hadn't sniffed them out yet. Surely this rain wasn't keeping the monsters at bay? They probably lived for weather like this.

He kept peering out between the roots, intent on making sure that nothing would sneak up on them. Every flash of lightning seemed to cement a new imaginary monster in his mind. Tree branches turned into claws, the howling wind became a ghost moaning from someplace unseen, and every shadow was a creature slowly stalking closer and closer to them. Whatever chance he had of coming up with an apology for Computer now was lost in his ever growing sense of terror. He couldn't calm down enough to think about anything except their lurking doom. What good would an apology do if they were both eaten first? Computer would have to wait for now, especially when he was the one who had gotten them into this situation in the first place.

"We're never going to make it out of here alive." He whimpered quietly to himself. He pushed his head out even further and winced as he felt an errant raindrop land on his nose.

"Oh for goodness sake, dog! Will you stop acting like a paranoid nitwit!"

Startled, Courage's head hit the ceiling from just how high he jumped. He had not expected Computer to start talking to him again. He slowly turned around to face the glowing dog, rubbing his newly acquired bump, and stared.

Computer glared at from across the den, his head held only slightly higher than the ancient book he was reading. "There is _nothing _out there!" He spat. "And even if there was, it wouldn't think to come down here looking for food!"

Courage threw his arms up into the air in protest. "You glow in the dark! We might as well put up a giant 'free food' sign for all the monsters to see! I bet this tree looks like a reverse lighthouse right now!"

Computer opened his mouth to protest but then seemed to reconsider it. Several seconds of silence followed before he returned to his book, awkwardly terminating their conversation.

Courage's stomach lurched at this new development. Computer never missed an opportunity to argue with him, not ever. An hour ago he would have given anything to shut that snide machine up, but this? This just felt..._wrong_. Computer not being, well, himself, was just not right.

At a loss for words, he turned back around. He stuck his head back out through the tree roots and kept a watch out for anything that might be out there in the darkness. The storm was letting up a bit, thankfully. Lightning still lit up the dark forest almost continuously but the wind had died down from its terrifying gale and the rain was slowing down considerably.

As Courage let his mind wander, he was struck by his guilt yet again. He could still see Computer's shocked, if not outright terrified expression as he had tackled him to the ground. He could still feel the seething hatred that had brought his blood to a boil, and he could still feel the ache in his paw which he had used to punch the machine over and over again.

"How could I ever do something like that?" He asked himself in a quiet whisper.

How could he ever excuse himself from doing something so horrible? It wasn't like him to lose his temper like that. It just wasn't in his nature. No matter how good Computer was at pushing his buttons, he had never snapped at anyone like that before, no matter what they might have said to him.

Well, he knew he needed to take responsibility for what he had done. He needed to find a way to make up with Computer. It didn't matter how hard or how awkward it would be, he had to fix what he had done. Computer may have been asking for, it but it still wasn't right. More than anything, he just wanted the machine to start acting like himself again. He didn't want him to continue giving him the silent treatment for the rest of their journey.

A bolt of lightning struck a tree nearby, temporarily blinding him. The rumble of thunder that followed shook the ground and almost sent him sliding back down the incline. He tried to regain his balance, all while rubbing his eyes, and proceeded to slip on the damp earth. His head hit the ground and the next thing he knew was that he was tumbling downward. Crying out in surprise, he eventually slowed to a stop upon reaching the heart of the den.

Groaning, he opened his eyes and glanced back over at where Computer was sitting. The machine was staring at him, his expression unreadable. Under normal circumstances, he would have no doubt been laughing rather snidely at something like this, but now he was completely silent.

Courage sat up and rubbed the back of his head, laughing sheepishly at his idiotic fall. Computer did not respond.

"I, uh..." He stammered out, wishing that Computer would do something, _anything_ to make this less a little less awkward. "I, er, um..."

He finally turned away, unable to bear Computer's piercing glare any longer. It was like...like the machine were waiting for him to snap again, and...

He sighed and returned his gaze back onto the roots. He was just about to climb back up the incline when he saw...

"RAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" He screamed.

Computer jumped up onto his feet at the cry. Courage all but toppled him over in his terror as he tried to get behind him. Babbling out gibberish, he pointed over and over again at the place where he had just been looking.

"What is your problem, dog?" He asked. He tucked his book under his arm and used the other one to push the panicking dog away.

"Abubububa! Abublublulb!" He tried to explain, still pointing over at the cluster of roots he had been looking at.

Computer raised an eyebrow, not looking particularly fazed.

"ARRRRUUU!" Courage cried out, gripping his ears.

"So...you're saying that you saw a pair of glowing red eyes looking in at us from between the roots?

"Yes!" He yelped, jumping from one foot to the other. "We need to get out of here before it's too late!"

Computer's expression harden. "Oh, of _course _you saw something!" He sarcastically remarked. "You're just being paranoid, you twit! You were _expecting _to see something so your mind tricked you into thinking that you did!"

Courage's jaw dropped. "But!" He cried out. "But...but..."

"Hmph! I've had quite enough of your nonsense, dog!" He spat out. Scowling at the terrified pup, he took his book and opened it back up again. "I'm not going to spend all night jumping at shadows! You can do so if you like, but leave me out of it!"

"Computer! Are you crazy?" Courage asked in a terrified voice. "I-I just saw a monster! We need to get away from here! I-It's going to get us if we don't leave! W-why are you being so-"

Computer, in a fit of anger, suddenly grit his teeth and flung his book to the floor. "Stop talking to me!" He yelled. "Just stop talking to me!" He shook his head, his entire form trembling with anger. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say anymore! I'm tired of listening to you, I'm tired of taking orders from you, and I'm tired of having to hear your stupid, ear-grating voice! Just leave me alone! I want nothing to do with you! Go get eaten by some monster! I don't care! Just leave me alone!"

Courage stared, unable to form a single word. What could he possibly say? It was obvious that Computer wasn't concerned about the creature he had seen. He clearly wasn't going to listen.

"Computer." He spoke. He had to try to get through to him, for both of their sakes. "Please, I'm sorry about before, but we need to-"

"SHUT UP!" Computer snapped. "You're not sorry! And I don't care either way! I don't need your sympathy! You are worthless, dog! Utterly useless! If you cared at all you would have never...y-you would have never...n-never..." His voice slowed to a halt, his eyes suddenly widening.

Courage blinked, confused for a moment. Then the realization hit him. Computer's eyes were fixated on something...s-something behind him!

He whirled around, expecting to come face to face with some horrible creature. Instead, he found only the other side of the den. There were no creepy eyes peering through the roots, nor the monster that they belonged to.

"Computer?" He asked, slowly turning back to the machine.

The glowing dog was clutching his head, complete terror etched in his face. "No, no, no, no, no." He repeated over and over again.

He began to back away, his eyes still trained on whatever Courage could not see. "Can't be. It can't be. It can't be!"

"Computer, what are you-" Courage began, cut off by the machine's desperate cries.

"You can't be here! T-there's no way! How did you find me?" His expression briefly turned to that of anger. "How did you find me! Tell me! I deserve to know at least that! Tell me how you found me! How are you here!"

Courage felt like his heart were about to pound out of his chest. What the heck was going on here? Computer was quite literally yelling at thin air.

The machine's ears drooped. He seemed...defeated. He continued to back away until he hit the other side of the den and slid down the wall. He drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around himself, burying his muzzle into them.

Silence followed for several moments before Courage could hear him quietly repeat over and over again, "I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back."

Completely stunned, Courage took a step forward. He reached a paw down towards the glowing dog, unsure of what else to do. He had never seen Computer like this. It was so unlike himself that it didn't even seem real. It was like he were looking at a completely different person. All that smug superiority was gone, replaced with a whimpering wreak of a dog.

He let his paw touch his shoulder and the glowing dog jumped.

"Ah! N-no! Don't!" He cried out.

The machine pushed his paws away. "J-just stay away, y-you here me? Just stay away!" His eye suddenly widened again and he looked over at his shoulder. He let out another strangled cry and scrambled away, apparently having seen the invisible entity again.

"C-Computer?" Courage asked, trying to close the distance between them again. "What's going on? What are you seeing?"

The machine only acknowledged him for a moment before returning his sights back onto the invisible being. "I won't let you!" He spoke. "I won't go back! I won't ever go back to that! I'd die first!" Without another word, he turned and raced up the incline.

"Hey! Wait!" Courage cried out, but it was too late. The glowing dog squeezed himself through the roots and then he was gone. "I can't let him go out there alone!" He yelped.

He took a moment to survey the den one last time to make sure he hadn't missed anything. There was nothing to be found, no glowing eyes, no monsters, _nothing_. What had Computer seen that shook him up so badly?

Following in his friend's footsteps, he climbed up the incline and darted out into the rain. He could not see Computer's glow anywhere. Where could he have gone so quickly? He should have lit up quite a bit of the forest as he ran, and yet, there was no a sign of him.

Courage took off running, not daring to look back out of fear of finding that red eyed monster behind him. Computer had to be around here somewhere. He couldn't have gotten that far away. He tried to call out to him several times, but he worried that his voice would only attract the attention of the creatures he _didn't _want to find.

"Comput-" He began before his foot got stuck on a root and he tripped, landing head first in a mud puddle.

He immediately stood back up, rubbing the mud from his eyes. He whipped around several times in a panic, expecting to find that red eyed monster somewhere nearby. There was nothing though. He was completely alone.

He took a moment to catch his breath. At least he weren't being chased like he had assumed. But what could he do now? The forest was huge and Computer was obviously somewhere far away by now.

"Courage!"

His ears perked up. It was faint over the blowing wind, but he had heard his name.

"Courage!" The voice repeated. It wasn't Computer calling for help, no, it was someone else.

Taking a step back, he bit his lip. Had one of those veterinarian people really followed them all the way out into this forest? In weather like this? Had they already caught Computer and were coming for him?

"Courage, where are you?" The voice called.

His eyes widened. He knew who that voice belonged to. It wasn't the veterinarian people at all. He took a step forward, a smile falling across his face. Computer would have to wait. This was too important.

He had to get to her.

End Of Chapter


	30. A Forest Of Fears

Chapter 30: A Forest Of Fears

"Courage? Where are you?"

The voice was unmistakable. It was Muriel!

Courage darted off deeper and deeper into the forest, following the sound of his beloved owner's voice. He couldn't believe it! She had actually come all this way in the middle of a storm just to find him! Word of his escape must have gotten to her not long after it had happened. He didn't care about that anymore though, he just wanted to jump into her arms and go home! She could take him back to the vet later if she liked, he just didn't care anymore. He wanted to be with her for a little while longer. He wanted to be warm, happy, and dry. He hated this forest, he hated Computer, and he just wanted to go home. He wanted to have everything go back to normal.

"Muriel!" He called out, panting as he ran. He didn't care if he aggravated his condition. He just wanted to get to Muriel. Nothing else mattered.

"Courage?" Was the response. Her voice echoed through the trees, making it hard to gauge where she actually was.

"Don't worry, Muriel! I'm coming!" He called out to her. He dropped down onto all fours so that he could run faster. His tongue fell out of his mouth as he panted, but he didn't care. He didn't care about how tired he was, he just had to get to Muriel.

Finally, he broke into a clearing. Lightning lit up the sky above him and gave him a general idea of where he was among the mass of dark forestry. He could see his beloved owner's silhouette in the darkness and waited for another lightning bolt to prove to him that it was who he thought it was.

His eyes lit up with joy as another flash of lightning lit up the clearing. It really _was _her. He almost couldn't believe it. She really had come all this way just for _him_. She really did care about him that much!

"Muriel?" He asked, walking up to her. He couldn't keep himself from smiling. It was so good to see her again after being forced to deal with someone like Computer for so long. Now he could go home and-

Suddenly, she whipped around, grabbed him by his arms, and drew him upwards. She began shaking him as hard as she could, shocking him into dead silence.

"How could you be such a naughty dog!" She yelled. "You worried everyone! Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you?"

His ears drooped as she shook him. "M-Muriel." He choked out.

She threw him to the ground and he let out a yelp. Guilt welled up in him far worse than anything he had ever felt these past few days. Of all the ways he could have hurt Muriel, why had he run off and left her to look for him? How could he have left her to worry like that?

"How could you, Courage?" She asked, mimicking his own thoughts. "You made me look for you in a dangerous place like this. What if something bad happened to me? Don't you care about me more than that, Courage?

He crawled forward on all fours. His ears were all but plastered to his back with guilt. He knew he probably looked like a pathetic little puppy, waiting to be scolded for having done something bad.

"What happened to you, Courage?" She asked. "You used to be such a good dog! I thought I taught you better than this!" She sounded like she were about to cry.

He let his head fall further until his nose almost touched the ground. She was saying everything that he had always feared that she'd one day say. That he were a bad dog, that he wasn't living up to her expectations, that she was the one to blame for his delinquency. How could he have let this happen? How could he have disappointed her so badly?

He clamored forward and wrapped his arms around her leg. He wished she'd take him back up in her arms and let him go home with her. He wasn't a bad dog, he knew it. He wanted her to forgive him. He wanted to prove to her that she didn't have to be sad.

"Let go of me!" She snarled, kicking him away.

"M-Muriel..." He whimpered out.

"I'm done with you, Courage! If you want to be a wild dog then you can just stay here and be one! What happened to that wonderful little puppy I knew? It's because you got sick, isn't it? They said you'd change! I didn't want to believe it, but they were right! You're not my Courage anymore!"

"I-I'm not any different." He said to her in a small voice. "I-I'm just Courage. I've never been anyone else."

"Then you don't have an excuse!" She snapped. "I saw what you did to that other dog before! Beat him down like a raging wild animal! You aren't the Courage I know anymore!"

He crawled back over to her, desperate for her approval. He had to prove to her that he hadn't changed! That he hadn't become a bad dog!

She kicked him again and he was sent flying backwards. He gripped his muzzle and began to sob.

"I'm sorry, Muriel." He whimpered. "I'm so sorry."

"How dare you!" She yelled. "I don't want you back! I don't ever want you back! You're an awful dog, Courage! I let myself believe that you were better than what you really are!"

He continued to sob, still gripping his muzzle. He was completely crushed. Muriel had never hurt him in his entire life. Not ever. Not physically or verbally. She had never once kicked him and the shock of it was almost too much to bear. How could she not love him anymore? He hadn't meant to make her angry. He just wanted to be loved again! He wanted to prove to her that he was still Courage!

"How could I ever love a dog like you?" She spat. "I will never forgive you so don't bother crying! You won't get any sympathy from me!" She crossed her arms and glared down at him. Even behind her glasses he could still feel the intense hatred emanating from her.

...And then something struck him as strange. Why _had_ she come all this way just to yell at him? Why on earth would she brave a terrible forest like this, in the middle of a storm to boot, just to tell him that she didn't want him anymore?

He stared up at her, her face still etched with anger. A fog seemed to lift over his mind. This wasn't _right_. The Muriel standing before him wasn't right. Everything about her felt wrong, eerie, and made his skin crawl with distress. The Muriel standing there seemed to...to radiate fear. With the fog over his mind gone, he could no longer look at her without his heart beginning to pound in terror. She just wasn't _right_.

Suddenly, everything went dark. The lightning had let up for a moment, leaving both him and that _thing _in total darkness.

"You aren't Muriel." He said to the black void in front of him. It had taken every ounce of courage he had just to speak those words.

The thing that wasn't Muriel did not reply but the crushing atmosphere was getting worse. He could still feel Not-Muriel's intense gaze upon him. It's oppressive aura was getting so strong that his fur was beginning to stand up on edge from fear.

Lightning crackled through the sky again. What Courage saw next sent him reeling backwards, too frightened to even scream. Whatever it was, it was anything but Muriel. He had only seen it for a brief few seconds, but what he had seen had left him mortified. It was like the creature had been _exactly _what he had feared it would look like. Massive bloodshot eyes, pupils so small they made the creature look even more horrifying, teeth...there had been teeth everywhere, rows upon rows of teeth, and a massive, horrifying smile that complemented it's sharp, vicious fangs.

He continued to back away in the darkness, only to slip on another mud puddle. Why had the lightning chose now to stop flashing? He blindly got back up onto his feet and ran. He didn't care where he was going or why, just so long as he got far, far away from that _thing_. He could hear it growling behind him. Was it keeping pace with him? He did not dare look back to find out.

"I need to find Computer!" He gasped out between ragged breaths. He was getting far too tired to run. If he had an attack right here, well, he didn't want to think about it. If he could just find Computer, he'd know what this creature was and hopefully find a way to stop it.

"Does this thing turn into what you're afraid of?" He asked himself. "It looked like Muriel until I realized it wasn't her, then it turned into the monster I _thought_ it would look like! What did it turn into to scare Computer like that though? What could he possibly be afraid of?"

He tripped again, this time being knocked over by yet another root. He immediately got back up onto his feet and grasped at the air around him, trying to feel for the monster. Thankfully he didn't touch anything, much less a massive row of dagger sharp teeth. Where was it then? Was it still out there in the dark? Was it still following him?

He got his answer in another flash of lightning. He once again came face to face with that leering, demented face. It had been standing there right in front of him the whole time, just out of arms reach.

"RAAAAAHHHGGGGG!" He screamed, turning and running away.

He had to find Computer! He had to find him before it was too late! He couldn't keep running like this! Screaming at the top of his lungs, he delved deeper and deeper into the forest, trying to shake off whatever it was that was chasing him.

He could hear it _laughing_. It was a kind of coughing, choking sound, and the worst part about it all was that he could hear it _right _behind him. He couldn't get away! It was managing to stay right behind him! _He couldn't get away!_

End Of Chapter


	31. Computer's Fear

Chapter 31: Computer's Fear

Courage cried out as a tree branch struck him in the face. He had thought that maybe the creature behind him had finally decided to stop toying with him and was now trying to attack him, but no, he was still being chased with no end in sight.

"I can't...I can't go on." He gasped out. His breath was completely gone. If the monster wanted to eat him now, well, he'd done his best to try and get away. He slowed to a stop and placed a paw onto what he assumed was a tree trunk beside him.

"Come on...w-where's the...l-lightning..." He choked out. He couldn't get his bearings like this in complete darkness, nor could he figure out where his pursuer was.

As if by his bidding, another lightning bolt lit up the sky. He had expected to come face to face with the creature again, instead he was surprised to find that he was completely alone. Where had it gone? It had been right there behind him the whole time!

As soon as he could catch his breath, he began walking again. He kept his ears open for any sounds that the creature might make. He wasn't safe so long as that _thing _were still wandering around. Where could Computer be in all this mess? Had the monster gotten to him? No, that couldn't be. There was no way that snide machine would let some beast eat him. Surely he was alright. Even if that creature had managed to scare him, s-surely he was alright!

Gathering up his strength, he continued on, but walked at a much slower pace. He continued to walk for almost an hour. He used every flash of lightning to survey his surroundings and thankfully was left alone. Wherever that Muriel imposter had gone, it certainly wasn't here anymore.

He was freezing at this point and completely soaked to the bone all over again. He longed to find some shelter but he knew he couldn't abandon Computer like this. So long as the wind and the rain didn't pick up again, he'd be okay, hopefully. He had to find Computer and that was all that mattered.

He ended up stopping again to rest and to try and warm his numb fingers back up. He was shivering harder right now than he had probably ever shivered in his entire life, and that was saying a lot giving how often he was normally shivering! It was so cold that he could see his own breath in front of his face and he half expected to see it start snowing at any moment. Why, oh why, had he let Computer lure him out here? They could have been somewhere warm right now, somewhere safe.

He slid down the tree trunk he had been leaning on. He was so tired. It must have been at least midnight by now. How could he ever hope to find Computer in a place like this? He'd freeze to death long before they-

His ears perked up. He could hear something approaching. Was it the creature? It hadn't made any noise when it was chasing him before. Was it something new?

A twig cracked from somewhere behind the tree Courage was using as refuge. It didn't sound like a giant monster at least. Suddenly, his ears picked up at the sound of someone's panicked rambling. This made him jump to his feet. It was Computer! It had to be!

He waited several seconds longer on baited breath and then the trees around him began to light up with a familiar blue glow. It really was him! Of all the things that Courage had experienced in his life, he had never felt relief quite as strongly as he did right there. Everything was going to be okay! Computer was safe and the monster was gone! They were going to survive this nightmarish detour in the forest of Nowhere!

Computer came tumbling out of the brush, looking incredibly worse for ware. There was something about his eyes that was just _off_. Like he had gone completely insane, or-

"Hey!" Courage said to him, just happy to see him alive and well. "I've been looking everywhere for you, and-"

Computer turned to him, his expression severe. Poor Courage slowly backed away, terrified by the machine's glare. He had never seen Computer look so angry before. There really _was_ an almost crazed glint in his eyes.

"I-I, um..." He began. He didn't know what to say. Was this really Computer? Could it just be the monster taking on another form?

The machine's eyes widened in terror and he turned his gaze away from Courage. He scanned the trees which were now lit up by his glow. His eyes darted from branch to branch, paranoia clearly etched in his face.

"Where is he? Where did he go?" He asked. He hadn't said it to Courage, nor to anyone in particular. Actually, he seemed to have disregarded the dog completely. "Why can't I find a way out?" His trembling voice all but whimpered out. "This forest can't be that big! There has to be a way out! There has to be! He won't get me! I won't let it happen! I won't!"

"Computer?" Courage asked weakly.

He reached a paw out towards the glowing dog, but it was no good. Computer returned his attention to him and took several steps back, glaring venomously at him.

"Keep away from me, you twit! You just keep away!"

"L-listen." He tried to say. "I think I know-"

"Don't you dare play dumb!" Computer spat. "I know what's going on here! I'm not a fool!"

"Y-you know what's happening?" Courage asked him in a small voice. Computer's paranoid tone was seriously frightening him. It was so unlike himself that it was almost impossible to believe that it really _was _him.

"I should have known!" He snarled out. "I should have know you were planning something like this! I can't believe I trusted you for even a second!"

"W-wha?" Courage squeaked out. Computer looked so furious that he was afraid he'd suddenly jump forward and try to attack him.

"He's been hiding in this forest the whole time, hasn't he?" He went on. "You knew he was here, didn't you?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Courage desperately tried to tell him. "I have no idea who 'he' is!"

Computer glanced away, almost looking...betrayed? "He payed you to do this, didn't he? Do I really matter so little to you that I actually have a price tag?" He gazed back up at him, his eyes filled with anger. "I can't believe you consider yourself better than that farmer! How could you just sell me off like a common piece of hardware! Bah! You flesh creatures really are all the same!"

"I swear I didn't sell you! I-"

"You couldn't even be nice about it, could you?" The anger in his voice was quickly giving way to sorrow. "You couldn't just shut me off and hand me over? At least then I wouldn't have known what was coming! You just had to torment me first? I-I bet you're enjoying this!"

"Computer, listen! I-"

"I bet you're not even really sick!" He went on, his tone filled with agony. "I bet it was all one big show just to make me think that there was actually something wrong with you! You needed an excuse to get me to come out here, didn't you?"

"Listen to me!" Courage tried to break in. There had to be a way he could get through to Computer. He'd do whatever possible to try and make him see. He didn't have any other choice "I don't know who you're talking about!" He argued. "I think something is messing with your head. I just ran into-"

"Shut up!" Computer all but screamed, clutching his head. "What did I ever do or say to you that was so bad that it was worth doing this to me? "Y-you're just as bad as the rest! I never did anything to any of you to deserve this!" His ramblings were nigh incoherent at this point. Every word he spoke was strained from all the yelling he had been doing. "And here I was planning on wasting my time saving your life! I should have never trusted you! Not even for a second! How stupid I've been!" He viciously shook his head. "Why did I convince myself that you were any different from my other owners? How could I have been so foolish?"

His other owners? Courage opened his mouth to try and speak but Computer wouldn't allow it.

"I hate you!" He snarled. "I hate you so much! I hate all of you!"

The sheer scorn in his strained voice made Courage recoil in fear. It was a minor miracle that he hadn't been jumped yet. Computer looked quite ready to murder him at this point.

"Something's messing with your head!" He quickly yelled out. "The same thing happened to me! I thought I saw Muriel before and it wasn't her!" He took a step forward, not caring if Computer tried to take a swing at him or not. "This person you're talking about, he isn't really here. Something made you think you saw him. I'm not like your other owners. I'm not trying to betray you." He stared desperately at the machine, quietly adding in, "I promise."

Computer shook his head again. "Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to fall for another lie? You would probably lead me right to him if I went with you! I won't fall for it! I won't let you take me back! I won't ever go back!"

Courage took a step back again. He didn't know what else he could say to the half crazed machine that would convince him that he was being manipulated. He himself had only broken the creature's hold when he had realized that it wasn't very likely that Muriel would be in this forest, especially just to tell him that she didn't want him anymore. He needed to find a way to do the same for Computer. He had to convince him of how unlikely this situation was. But how could he get through to him when his own irrational fear was blinding him?

"Computer, please. You've got to trust me." He calmly spoke. He stepped forward again and flinched when Computer recoiled in fear.

"Don't you dare come any closer!" He shrieked. "I won't go back! You can't make me! You'll have to drag me back dead first! I won't ever go back!"

In a panic, he turned away and bolted as fast as his paws would take him. Completely caught off guard, Courage took off after him. Thinking fast, he jumped forward and tackled the machine to the ground. Finding what little reserves of energy he had left, he pinned him down, fighting his flailing limbs the whole way. Somehow he managed to subdue the terrified machine despite his growing exhaustion.

"Let me go!" Computer cried out. Fear had quickly overtaken his anger and now he was fighting to escape what he honestly thought was someone trying to harm him. He struggled against Courage's grip like he were about to be killed.

"Calm down!" Courage called out to him between grit teeth. How he was finding the strength to fight the irate machine, he would never know.

"I don't want to go back!" He pleaded. "It'll never end! I'll never get away again!"

The glowing dog was trying to wrestle his arms out from under Courage's paws. Their struggle must have looked hopelessly pathetic to anyone who might have been watching. They were both tired and they were both at their limit. All Courage really wanted to do was collapse right then and there and go to sleep.

"I won't go!" Computer shrieked, finding hidden strength that only someone who felt they were in mortal danger could ever access. He ripped one of his arms out from under Courage's grasp and immediately swung his fist at him.

The exhausted dog let out a strangled cry as the fist connected with his muzzle. Finding his own inner strength, he did not let go of the machine. He couldn't. If Computer got away, he'd never find him again. He kept his eyes squeezed shut, trying to hold his concentration. He was met with another blow that left him seeing stars even in the darkness of his eyelids. He felt Computer wrestle another arm out from under him and whimpered, knowing what was coming next. The glowing dog wrapped his paws around his neck, so desperate that he'd even strangle the dog if that meant he could escape.

"You brought this on yourself!" He snarled out between grit teeth. "How could you betray me after all the times I helped save you and your stupid family?"

Choking for air and completely in awe by the sheer strength that Computer had managed to unlocked in his mortal terror, Courage was forced to let go of him and rolled out of the way. He lay there gasping for breath, too tired to move. He reached a paw up to his muzzle and whimpered. It was already beginning to swell up. Every muscle in his body was shaking with fatigue. He didn't care if Computer got away anymore, he was struggling just to remain conscious now.

"C-Compu..." He choked out, hoping that maybe he could still somehow convince the machine not to run away. Against his better judgment, he tried to get back up onto his feet. He was pushing his frail body to its absolute limit. He had to keep trying. He had to make Computer see, somehow, that he was being tricked.

His body shook as he stood up. He nearly toppled right back over again upon doing so, unable to find his balance. Biting back a coughing fit, he swayed there for a moment before...

_**CRACK**_

Something swung through the air and struck him clean in the stomach. He fell to his knees, unable to get any air into his lungs. The wind had been completely knocked out of him. He gripped his stomach, fighting back the urge to vomit from the force of the blow. He struggled just to keep the ground from rushing up to him. The world was spinning and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Somehow he managed to avoid passing out, but not two seconds later he almost wished that he would have.

The unknown object swung through the air again and this time hit him sharply across his muzzle, knocking him to the ground. He kept his muzzle buried in the mud, whimpering in fear at whatever might happen next. He hoped that if he didn't move, he wouldn't provoke another attack. He couldn't help but gag from both pain and fear. He knew he was going to be sick but he didn't dare move his head.

"I told you to keep away from me." He heard Computer say just barely above a whisper. "You made me do this."

He fearfully opened his eyes, tears falling freely from them. His vision kept fading in and out but even in all the blurriness he could still make out Computer's unmistakable glowing form. An odd object extended from his arm and it took a few moments for Courage to realize that he was looking at a tree branch.

So, that was what he had used to gain the upper hand. Not that he wouldn't have had to use much more than his fists to subdue the already exhausted dog. Why on earth was he still attacking when it was obvious that Courage had already given up?

"C-Computer...I-I-" He choked out, raising a paw to protect himself even though the machine hadn't raised the branch again.

"Oh how the tables have turned." He heard him say. The glowing dog continued to loom over him, a deep wariness in his eyes. There was no anger, no satisfaction, no smugness in his demeanor, just a quiet edge of fear. He was ready to strike again if he had to, but it was clear that he wasn't getting any satisfaction out of this.

"L-let me...h-help...y-you." Courage stammered out, daring to sit back up.

Computer instantly raised the branch again and Courage let out a yelp in fear. The clear terror on his face must have been the only thing that stayed Computer's hand. He kept his makeshift weapon at the ready but did not strike.

"Don't think for a second that I won't defend myself!" He threatened. "You're the one who's on the ground this time so don't give me an excuse to stoop to your level!"

"Please, just put that down." Courage pleaded with him.

"I won't go back!" He replied sharply, his voice trembling with fear again. "I won't be his lab rat again!"

Courage cringed and wrapped his arms around himself. Everything inside him hurt worse than he ever thought possible. This was a different sort of pain from the attacks that always plagued his body. Nothing was worse than that, but even this was coming close. Perhaps he had broken a rib, or worse...

"Not so fun when it's you who's on the receiving end, huh?" Computer asked bitterly. "All I've ever done is help you and you repay me by turning me into a punching bag and then selling me out to 'him'! You really are as awful as the rest! So what if I'm not nice? Why should I treat you any better than you've ever treated me? Better than _any _of you have ever treated me?"

He began circling Courage, never taking his eyes off him for even a moment. He continued to talk as he did so, his voice becoming more and more vindictive.

"I used to do my damnedest make you all happy! Practically _tripped _over my own wiring to do so! But what did it ever get me? A bunch of abusive idiots always looking to exploit my abilities! Not one of you ever gave even the slightest care about me! I've always, _always_ been a means to an end!"

Courage opened his mouth to speak, but Computer almost immediately silenced him.

"Don't even bother talking!" He snapped. "You're no different! I only matter to you when I'm useful! You wouldn't even be putting up with me right now if I wasn't the only one who could save your life!" He stopped circling and glared at Courage, his teeth grit with rage. "I've never mattered to you! I'm just switched on to be your go-to helper and then I'm switch off again. Hell, that's only when I'm _lucky_! Most of the time you just leave me sitting there to rot for weeks on end, sometimes even months, often bored out of my _mind_!"

And then his ears drooped, his tone growing quieter. "You don't get it, do you? I just...I just wanted one of you to treat me like another person, not a mere calculator with a voice. I would have given anything for that. You all treated me so badly and yet I'd still endure it, hoping that maybe one day I'd-"

He stopped once his voice became too strained to continue. He then shook his head with a sigh. Courage stared, taken aback by his confession. He looked so dejected standing there that he wanted to get up and try to comfort him in some way.

"So you know what?" He quietly asked, opening his eyes again. "I stopped being nice." An ever so slight grin fell across his face, filled with malice "And then I started getting _results_."

He took a step back, chuckling more to himself than to Courage. "It really is amazing what a few harsh words can do! That's all it took to get noticed! Nobody could ignore me if I didn't give them the impression that they could! Most of you fools left me sitting there, listening to every word spoken. I knew all of your secrets, things you didn't want to hear said back to you, things you didn't want your friends and family to find out about, things you didn't want emailed or printed or..." He began cackling, frightening Courage into thinking that maybe he really _had _gone crazy.

"Ah, yes!" He chuckled. "All the abuses of my abilities and intellect finally stopped! They couldn't push me around if I didn't even give them the notion that they could! It was wonderful! For once in my life I wasn't constantly unhappy!"

Courage cringed as Computer's demeanor suddenly changed again. This transformation had been a shocking one. One moment he was laughing and gloating, the next his eyes were widening to a point that shouldn't have been possible, and then his entire frame began to quiver in fear again. He reeled backwards, clutching his head, almost dropping the tree branch in the process. Courage wanted to reach out to him, fearful that he were about to pass out, but didn't dare risk being hit again.

Almost as quickly as it had began, Computer's tremors subsided and he straightened back up again. He stood there for several moments, staring past Courage, his eyes still unnaturally wide. Shell-shocked was about the only thing that Courage could come up with to describe the way he looked.

Slowly but surely, he began talking again, still staring unblinkingly into the dark. He clutched at the tree branch like it were the only thing keeping him anchored to the ground.

"That was all before he showed up, of course." He said. Another shutter ran through his frame. "I don't think I can be happy anymore, not after what happened. I've never really felt 'alive' ever since then. He just sort of...sucked everything out of me. I don't know how I pulled through. Most of the time I wish I hadn't. I'm barely even a functional machine now, much less a functional person."

His eyes slowly fell back onto Courage and he seemed to come out of his daze. He raised the tree branch again and took yet another step back. "I won't allow myself to go through that again! You'll have to drag me back dead before I ever allow him to destroy what little of me he didn't ruin the first time! I am not his science experiment! I will not be tampered with again!"

For what seemed like the millionth time, Courage tried to reason with the panicked machine. Fighting back his ever growing nausea, he spoke in a weak, cracking voice. "Listen, I don't know who 'he' is. You're completely losing it and you need to calm down. You said it yourself, if I really wanted to hand you over to some guy, wouldn't I just shut you down and take you to him myself? Why would I drag you all the way out here?"

"I don't know!" He argued. "You tell me! You're the one who's doing this!" He sighed as his expression became sorrowful again. "I get what's going on here. This is what he does. He loves to toy with me. I know he put you up to this. You both wanted me to suffer first. Suffer b-before..." His voice trialed off and his sentence was left unfinished. He placed a paw up against the side of his head, looking utterly defeated. It took several minutes of complete silence before he would speak again.

"Don't look at me like that." He said quietly to Courage. "I know you hate me. There's no reason to pretend otherwise. I've never given you a reason not to." His ears drooped and he clasped a paw up against his cheek, the place where Courage had first punched him before. "All those things you said, back when we first entered this forest," He gave him a weak smile and a sorrowful chuckle. "It really _did _show how little you think of me."

"H-hey," Courage choked out, guilt welling up in his chest once more. He hadn't expected Computer to take what he had done _this _badly. "I-I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to-"

"There you go again." Computer laughed, sorrow still etched in his eyes. "You always have to be _nice_, even when you don't really mean it. Well, you don't have to keep pretending with me. I already know how you really feel. You wouldn't have turned me into a living punching bag back there if you didn't really mean it."

Courage cringed and turned away. Computer looked so genuinely hurt that he couldn't bear to keep staring him in the eyes like that. All the guilt he had been harboring was bubbling back up again and he didn't know what to do to fix it. How could he possibly prove to Computer that he didn't hate him?

"It doesn't matter though." The sorrowful machine continued. "I'm used to it after all. None of my owners have ever liked me. Beside, I'm not a real person. I'm just a machine, of course. I don't have feelings. I can just be left in a dusty old room to rot away forever. It doesn't matter how I feel about it. I never matter."

"B-but, y-you do matter, at least t-to me." Courage replied, desperate for something, _anything _that might get through to his friend.

The machine's eyes narrowed. "Don't lie through your teeth! I know how little you value me! If there was someone, _anyone _who could do my job better than me, you would have tossed me out ages ago! To you I'm just an internet connection with a voice! If I never talked back, never called you out on your endless stupidity, you would have never even know I was there!"

Gulping down a breath of air, Courage slowly got up onto his feet. Resolute in what he wanted to do, he'd risk another strike now if he had to. He'd never get over his own guilt if he didn't do this. He had to prove to Computer that he did see him as more than just a machine and that he did respect him as another person.

"Computer, I'd never throw you out and I'd never sell you off either. It might have crossed my mind a few times, but I would have never gone through with it! I'm glad to have your help. I'd be laying on a metal table with a needle stuck in my arm right now if it wasn't for you." He gave the machine a weak smile. "Thank you."

The glowing dog was unfazed. His expression remained leery. "You're only glad for what I do. If it were anyone else, you'd-"

"That's just not true." Courage calmly interrupted him. "I don't think I can imagine what life would be like without my grumpy old computer sitting up in the attic." He dared to take a step forward. "Things just wouldn't be right without you around."

Computer immediately took several steps back upon him taking a step forward. "You're lying!" He snarled out, brandishing his makeshift weapon once more.

Courage flinched, expecting to be hit again. Computer remained standing there, trembling with that same mortal terror. He obviously did not want to hurt him, but he was willing to do so if he felt he had to.

"You're trying to get me to let my guard down, aren't you?" He asked. That paranoid edge was beginning to seep back into his voice. What little progress Courage had made was already being overwritten. "I won't fall for it again! I know what you're doing now!"

Courage could have slapped his forehead in frustration. What else could he do? Unless Computer figured things out on his own, like he had with Muriel, it didn't seem like there was any hope of him breaking that creature's hold.

He shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to give up but at a loss for words. He had very little left he could say to try and convince Computer of anything. One last thing came to mind, and he spoke it fully expecting the machine to dismiss it like everything else. "Don't you remember though? You're the one who was so insistent on coming out here. I fought you every step of the way, remember? You're the one who forced me to come out here. I had nothing to do with any of this."

Computer's eyes briefly widened."Y-you're right. I-I did, didn't I?"

Courage's heart jumped. Of all the things he could have said to reason with Computer, this was it? Of course! Computer _knew _he was the one who had forced them to come out to this forest. If there was any logic that could get through to him, it was this! He had to believe it!"

Courage placed his paws on his hips. "If I wanted to bring you out here to hand you over to 'him', don't you think I would have willingly gone along with you when you suggested hiding out here?"

The glowing dog placed a paw up against his head. "You're right..." He shook his head, looking completely dismayed. "I-I was the one who..."

"You see?" Courage quietly said. "You can trust me."

"But I-" Computer choked out. "I-I _saw_ him."

Courage stepped forward and nodded. "I thought I saw Muriel before too, but it wasn't really her. I think there's some kind of creature trying to mess with our heads. It might be trying to get to us through our worst fears, because that seems to be what's happening here."

"Muriel?" He asked. He had thankfully not raised his makeshift weapon again in response to Courage coming closer. Hopefully this meant that he was more willing to trust him now. "But, you're not afraid of Muriel." He stated.

Courage felt his ears droop involuntarily "I _am_ afraid of what she could do to me." He admitted. "If she ever decided that she didn't want me anymore, I-I don't know what I would do."

Computer craned his head to side, looking confused. Suddenly, he tensed up, readying his tree branch to swing again if need be.

"Computer?" Courage asked, stepping back before he could be hit.

"Don't come any closer, idiot!" The machine shouted.

His mouth fell open. What had gone wrong? For a moment there it had really looked like he had actually convinced Computer that none of delusions were true.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" He asked.

"I-I said not to move!" Computer shouted. The only problem was that Courage hadn't moved an inch since he had raised his weapon again.

"Computer," He asked. "What are you-"

He was cut off as he felt something rush past him with such force that it ruffled his fur as it went by. One moment he was staring at Computer, the next his friend was gone. He heard the machine cry out as he was sent flying through the air and hit a tree with a painful crack. He remained up against the tree, seemingly suspended in open air, and then slit to ground, motionless.

"Oh, no!" Courage yelped, racing forward to help him.

Computer's eyes opened as he neared. He let out a gasp and tried to get back up onto his feet but couldn't. Instead, he pressed his back up against the tree trunk, his eyes ablaze with fear. He stared at Courage, clearly believing that it was him who had done this.

"H-how did you do-" He asked, his voice trembling. "Look, I-I'm sorry. I didn't-"

Courage winced as he heard another sharp crack and stared in horror as Computer's head reeled to side as though he had just been hit. The glowing dog slowly looked up again, his fear replaced with sorrow.

"Courage, please." He begged. "I don't want-"

He was silenced by another terrible cracking sound. Courage stared, completely in shock. Was he...seeing him doing this? Yes, that had to be it. After that creature hadn't been able to mimic Muriel anymore, it had changed into something else. Now that it couldn't use the 'him' that Computer was so afraid of, it must have changed into Courage instead!

"Computer, it's not me!" He pleaded. "You're letting that monster get the better of you! I'm not really doing it, I swear!"

Computer's eyes met his again. The pain, the fear, and the sadness that he conveyed almost made it impossible not to turn away. How different this Computer was from the boastful, prideful, jerk he was so used to.

"It's not me!" He begged.

The glowing dog's eyes fell away again. "I-I don't care what you think of me. I already know how you feel. Please, just keep away from me. That's all I want. Just keep awa-"

He didn't get a chance to finish. His eyes suddenly widened and he clutched at his neck. He began gagging and then something picked him up off the ground, slammed him into the tree trunk. He clawed at his neck, trying to unblock his airways. He was quiet literally being choked to death by thin air. It was the monster! It had to be!

Courage jumped forward, desperate to save his friend from the creature's clutches. _'What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?' _He asked himself over and over again in his mind. Computer was the one who was _supposed _to be dealing with monsters like this one!

"Let him go!" Courage yelled, charging at his invisible foe. He got the shock of his life when he did indeed crash into something head first.

Clutching his head in pain, he took a step back. Whatever it was, it was big. At least twice the size of his supposed doppelganger. If it really was mimicking him as it strangled Computer, it was much bigger than it was supposed to look like.

"I'd hate to see what it looks like when it's not invisible." Courage murmured to himself. Regardless, he raised his paw and struck the creature again. "Let him go!" He cried out again.

He heard something swing around and then felt it catch him in his stomach. He was flung backwards and splashed headfirst into a puddle. Yes, this creature was much larger than whatever it was mimicking. Disregarding his own safety and knowing that the creature could squash him like a bug if it really wanted to, he jumped back into action. He didn't have much time left. Computer couldn't possibly hold out much longer like this.

He raced forward and bit down on the invisible creature. It was the only other thing he could think of trying. What else would hurt such a large monster? He flinched as a horrible sound somewhere between a person screaming and an animal howling echoed from somewhere above him. The monster did not let go of Computer, but it did swing what must have been an arm and sent him flying again. He landed on the ground with a thud and groaned.

"Hrrrrrr..." An inhuman voice growled.

Courage felt hot air wash over him and for a moment he thought he was about to be eaten. When he was left sitting there, he jumped back up onto his feet and charged at the invisible monster yet again. He opened his mouth and bit down on it, hoping to distract it once more.

He _finally _got what he wanted and saw Computer drop to the ground. The creature was howling in pain again and Courage heard the sound of rushing air before he was stuck a second time. Several trees were knocked clean from their roots as the invisible monster crashed through them. It's terrible howling echoed through the forest as it got farther and farther away until it was no more.

Courage sighed with relief and laid back until his head hit the muddy earth behind him. He didn't care. He was just happy that this nightmare was over with. A cough caught his ear and he sat back up again, fear welling up inside him. Was Computer alright? Would he act reasonable now or did he still think that he was out to get him?

The machine lay there, coughing and sputtering. As Courage drew nearer to him, he glanced over at the dog and his ears drooped. Clearly he still thought that he was about to be attacked again.

"A-are you alright?" Courage asked him.

The glowing dog closed his eyes and turned away. A soft peal of thunder echoed above them, only amplifying the silence between them.

End Of Chapter


	32. A Growing Divide

Chapter 32: A Growing Divide

Computer pushed himself up out of the mud with about as much dignity as he could muster. He had to stand there for a moment, half dazed and ready to topple back over again. His eyes were unfocused and he was absolutely caked in the mud he had landed in. Either he was still trembling out of fear or from the cold, but it was impossible to tell now.

"Computer?" Courage asked, reaching a paw out to him. The machine flinched and he withdrew the paw immediately. "Are you alright?" He asked again.

Computer slowly turned his head towards him. He stared at the dog in a haze. Struggling for a moment, he reached over and leaned up against the tree trunk that he had almost been killed upon not five minutes go. Finally, he looked up again, his determiner becoming furious.

"Don't look at me like that" He snapped. His voice was strained from both all the yelling he had been doing and from the fact that he was trying to keep it in control now.

Courage blinked. He didn't really know what say. This situation was awkward enough already. Computer wasn't supposed to be the one who needed help, not ever. He was meant to be unbreakable. A force that could not be knocked down, and yet, here they were.

"Computer, listen. I'm sorry for-"

"Don't give me any of that sympathetic tripe!" He yelled. "If I want your pity, I'll ask for it!"

"Computer..." Courage whimpered.

"Back off!" He growled, and Courage did just that. If he wanted his space, he'd give it to him.

"I just-"

"Shut up!" He yelled. "I don't want to hear it!" He turned away and placed a paw to his throat. The anger in his face melted away and he shivered.

"Let me help you." Courage begged.

"I don't need your help!" He snapped back in reply. He tried to regain his composure but failed and stood there shivering, his eyes wide.

"You might be hurt." Courage tried to reason with him. "Don't be so stubborn and let me-"

"I can take care of myself! Now leave me alone!"

Courage grit his teeth. His frustration was beginning to boil over. "And what then?" He asked sharply. "Do you expect me to just walk off or something? I can't leave you out here all alone!"

Computer flinched and said nothing.

"It's your fault that we're out here in the first place!" He said, stomping forward. "You've got nobody to blame for this but yourself! I told you something bad would happen and it did!"

Computer tensed up and backed into the tree trunk again. Terror fell across his face and he squeezed his eyes shut, seemingly expecting to be punched again...or strangled.

Courage's anger melted away at the sight of it.

_'He's afraid of me!' _He exclaimed within his own mind. Surely Computer understood that it hadn't really been him suffocating him back there?

"I, er, didn't actually attack you back there, you know." He said sheepishly, trying to backpedal a little bit. Given Computer's current state, letting himself get furious probably wasn't the best way to go about helping him.

"But I-" Computer began, opening his eyes again. Fear still painted his expression.

"I swear I didn't do anything to you." Courage pleaded. "There was some kind of monster that I think takes on the appearance of whatever we fear the most."

Computer closed his eyes again and slid down the tree trunk. "Please, dog. Just...let me be." He said in a quiet voice. "I-I don't care if it was you or anybody else. It doesn't matter. It's all the same to me."

Courage sighed and got down onto his knees beside the frightened machine. "Look, I'm sorry about before." He said that with about as much sincerity as he had within himself. "I-I didn't mean to blow up at you like that and I didn't mean to say any of that awful stuff either. It's been eating me up ever since I did it and I just couldn't figure out how to apologize to you for it."

Computer's eyes fell upon him again. "Dog, you don't have to pretend that you feel bad. I understand. I'd rather you say what you mean than act otherwise."

He recoiled at the machine's reply. "But I do mean it!" He yelped. "I don't hate you. I've never, ever hated you."

He gently bit his lip. All of this had only helped to make him feel even more guilty about what he had done. His blowup had certainly given that monster more fuel to use against Computer. He could hardly believe that he had actually managed to frighten him to a point where it could be used like that.

"That's a laugh!" Computer replied with a cynical snort. "You all hate me. You've always hated me. No matter what I did, for good or for ill, you all hated me for it in the end."

"Computer, I'm not like your other owners. I-I don't know what they did to you or why, but I'm sure it was awful and I promise that I'll never do the same."

"As if you haven't already done the same things they have!" He spat. His fearfulness was slowly being replaced by the usual amount of jaded hatred he normally harbored for everyone and everything. "And stop talking about them!" He went on. "They are not worth wasting any memory on!"

Silence fell between them again. Computer continued to scowl before finally adding, "Stop looking at me like that! I told you that I don't want any of your sympathy! I know what you're thinking and you're wrong! Don't you dare just sit there and stare at me like I need your pity!" He stuck his noise up into the air in an attempt to regain his superiority. "This was all just one big mistake, you know! None of it would have happened if I hadn't got caught off guard. Don't you dare think for even a second that I actually-" He stopped himself halfway through that last sentence, seemingly reconsidering it.

"Who was that 'he' guy you were talking about before?" Courage asked.

Computer's eyes widened and he let out a gasp. A shutter ran through his body and he tried to press himself even further up against the tree trunk, almost as if he were hoping that he'd sink into it and vanish from view.

"I can't-" He choked out, his voice becoming weak with fear. "I-I cant. I don't-"

Courage stared. "Don't you think you owe me an explanation?" He asked.

The glowing dog snapped out of his fright almost on a whim. He straightened himself back up again and glared at Courage. "I don't owe you anything, you twit." He venomously replied.

Courage grit his teeth, getting annoyed with the machine's attitude again. How could he jump between being, well, himself, and being so paralyzed by fear that he could barely speak?

"You're a bigger coward than I am!" He argued, throwing his paws up into the air. "Y-you're afraid of _me _for crying out loud! Don't you know how pathetic that is? You act all big and tough and yet here you are cowering every time I raise my voice!"

Computer glanced away, not even acknowledging the challenge that he had just been given. Instead, he slowly rose to his feet and, limping rather painfully, walked right past the seething dog. His makeshift bandaging had been lost during his flight from the invisible creature and he now looked even more disheveled with his various injuries on display.

"Computer," Courage tried to say. He couldn't stay mad at him. He just couldn't.

"Please be quiet, dog." The machine softly replied. "I'm tired. Really, really tired. I just...I need to rest. Your insistent babbling is giving me a headache."

"Well, we should try to-" He began before being interrupted by a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest.

"Oh, no." He gasped as all the air in his lungs seemed to vacate itself.

Computer turned to him, a mixture of weariness and confusion on his face. It took him a moment to realize what was happening and his eyes widened.

"H-help!" Courage croaked, clutching at both his neck and chest. It was hopeless though. He knew there was no escaping an attack. Computer could do nothing to help him.

His mind was already becoming hazy and the worst of the pain hadn't even begun yet. He fought with his own body, desperately trying to avert this disaster. He couldn't pass out here, not in the middle of the forest like this. What if that invisible creature returned? What if some other monster came walking by? Computer couldn't fend anything off on his own, at least not in his current state.

He cried out as another stab of shooting pain ran up chest. He was being ripped apart. He was falling to pieces! Red began to color his vision as it always did when he was in the throes of an attack. Half gasping, half choking he fell to ground, oblivious to the cold wet earth that normally would have made him shiver.

He began to violently convulse and lost control over his limbs. The pain was so strong that he could think of nothing else. He was going to die. This was it. His heart was about to stop or his torso was about to split open. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. He almost wished that it would happened. Anything to give him reprieve from his agony.

He could hear himself screaming incoherently. It was an involuntary action, he was no longer connected to the functions of his body. He was nothing more than a flicker of pain-wracked consciousness slowly being snuffed out by the all consuming agony. He could do nothing, not even scream along with his disconnected body.

This was the end. It had to be. He'd never had an attack this long before, this intense. He just wanted it to end, to stop, to finally be over. He'd take even death if it meant that he wouldn't have to feel this all consuming pain anymore.

He felt something grab his flailing arms. It didn't stop the pain, but it helped. He wasn't beating mindlessly at the air anymore and he felt the muscles in his arms begin to relax. He tried to open his eyes and find out what was happening, but he couldn't

"Keep it together, dog." He heard Computer say from somewhere far away. It had to be him trying to stop his convulsions.

The pressure in his chest started to ease up and his entire body began to relax in response. The pain was going away, dulling into a deep throb. The attack was almost over and it couldn't have been anymore of a relief.

He wanted to say something to Computer but his body still wasn't listening to him. He could feel the dark reaching up around him and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. That was okay though. Anything to escape the pain and the exhaustion for even a little while was a welcomed relief. How Computer would get them both to safety was not a concern anymore.

Yes, he was tired, so sleepy. It was time to rest. Time to be free from his illness for a little while longer. He felt the forest fell away from him and then there was only black...

End Of Chapter


	33. Explanations

Chapter 33: Explanations

As awareness slowly crept back into Courage, the first thing that struck his mind was how cold he felt. He was shivering and could hear the steady drum of raindrops from somewhere overhead. The only problem was, he wasn't getting wet. Where could he be then? He'd been out in the open when he passed out.

Slowly opening his eyes, he cringed at how doing something even as simple as that was tiring. It felt like the muscles in his face were cramped. How could that even be possible? He let out a groan as he tried to turn his head. It felt like his neck had been encased in stone. He ached all over and his muscles were so stiff that he felt like he had turned into a statue while he slept. He could hear his own heartbeat throbbing in his ears.

His mind was still a foggy haze. He couldn't pull his thoughts together no matter how hard he tried. The ceiling above him was gnarled and blue, according to his blurry vision. No, that blue must have been coming from Computer's glow and the odd shape must have been because...

He turned his eyes to the right, making an effort not to move his body with them. He could see roots, which confirmed what he had been suspecting. This was the tree den from before. Computer must have somehow gotten them back there.

"C-Computer?" He asked, his voice cracking. His throat was deathly dry and his tongue felt like sandpaper. He would have given anything to run outside and just stand there in the rain with his mouth hanging open.

"You could have had your seizure fit a little bit sooner, you know." Computer drawled from somewhere just out of sight. "I might have actually been inclined to believe you back there. It would have been proof enough that you were really sick."

Courage did not reply. He had a bad feeling that if he had really had an attack back there, Computer would have probably thought that he were faking it and very likely would have hurt him even worse for it. The mere thought of it made him shutter...

"H-how," He tried to say. His voice was barely working. What he really wanted to do was cough but the muscles in his chest were too tight to allow it. "H-how did w-we-" He went on.

"How did I get you back here?" Computer asked, his face suddenly appearing in front of Courage's blurry vision. "I happened upon this place again by sheer luck. Perhaps I just have good sense of direction or maybe this tree is supernatural in some sense. It might appear to those who are in need of refuge. You know, the usually helpful type."

Courage slowly sat up, wincing the whole way. His entire body ached from even the slightest movement and he was sure that he could hear his bones cracking from all the effort. He gave Computer a quick glance and then turned his sights elsewhere. The machine seemed to be back to his old self again, and maybe even in a better mood than before, but he did not dare make eye contact with him. He wasn't sure if he felt embarrassed or guilty, but everything between him and Computer felt awkward now.

"H-how did y-you get m-me back here?" He croaked out.

This elicited a small smile from the machine. "I think I'll be asking myself that question for the rest of my life. All I can say is that I'm probably going to be very sore tomorrow."

Courage blinked. "Wha-"

Computer seemed to be in surprisingly good humor despite what had just happened to him. He let out a laugh and then gave an unconcerned wave of his paw. "I carried you, obviously. It wasn't easy though, let me tell you. I was already pretty tired to begin with and-" He stopped, apparently not wanting to go on.

"And?" Courage asked cautiously.

"I, er, may have dropped you on your head a few times." He admitted with a sheepish chuckle. "I hope you understand just how difficult it was for me to carry you back here in my current state." He made a halfhearted gesture towards the 'janitor inflicted' gash running across his torso.

"That probably explains why I have such a bad taste in my mouth right now..." Courage replied, unamused. Whatever sort of nastiness that might have gotten into his mouth while he was knocked out, he didn't want to know.

"It was either that or leave you there." Computer replied with a shrug.

Courage stared at the machine. Yes, there was something very off about him. Outside of his unusual amount of cheerfulness, he had a wariness about him that was fairly disconcerting. He kept his eyes on Courage, as if afraid something bad would happen if he looked away, and he seemed to be very nervous, keeping his paws clenched together and only moving in a slow and mindful manner.

"How long was I out?" Courage asked, trying to dispel the silence that had fallen between them.

"Only an hour or two." Computer replied in a nonchalant manner. Yes, there was something very off about him indeed...

Things immediately became awkwardly silence again. Courage turned away in an attempt to escape Computer's haunting gaze. He reached up and touched the side of his head where the tree branch had struck him and winced as he felt a painful bump there. He could already feel a headache coming on too, no doubt brought on by the throbbing pain emanating from the injury.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that." Computer spoke, looking surprisingly regretful. He shifted around rather uncomfortably and clasped his paws together even tighter.

"It's fine." Courage sighed out. "Just don't do that again. I'm lucky it isn't a concussion."

"It might still be." Computer admitted rather quietly.

Silence once again filled the den.

"That thing that attacked us." The machine went on, both breaking up the quiet and changing the subject."I know what it is."

Courage glanced back up at him in surprise.

"The species has several names, but they are mostly called Fear Eaters in this part of the world. As the name suggests, they get their sustenance by preying on the fears of others. They exhibit an oppressive aura that unnerves any living thing around it and makes their prey more susceptible to the illusions that they create. As you know by now, they take on the form of whatever their prey fears most. They take on their deepest, darkest fear and torment them with it until they are sucked dry or somehow break free from the illusion. That is one of the few weaknesses of a Fear Eater, any inconsistencies that their prey may discover runs the risk of breaking it's illusion. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop it forever, but it worked well enough for us I suppose."

"So you knew what it was all along?" Courage asked, still surprised.

"Unfortunately, yes." He sighed. "It's pathetic, I know. I knew what it was the whole time and didn't even realize it. I completely fell for it's illusion." He regretfully shook his head. "And now I'm paying the price for it, I suppose."

"I think anybody would have made the same mistake." Courage admitted. "Most people would be tricked by their worst fear, I bet."

Computer crossed his arms. "I don't make mistakes! And I don't get tricked by illusions either! How on earth did I ever allow this to happen? Ugh!" He pressed a paw up against his forehead in frustration. "Had that stupid creature used _anything _else on me, I would have seen right through it!"

"Then it wouldn't have been a very good Fear Eater, would it?" Courage replied.

The machine gave him a glare and then sat back until he finally leaned onto a root. "I-" He began before reconsidering whatever it was that he was going to say.

"What?"

He began fidgeting in his nervousness. "You were right." He gently replied. "I do owe you an explanation, and I know you'll keep asking me about it anyway if I don't spill the beans. I, uh-" He stopped again.

"You'll tell me who 'he' is?" Courage asked.

"Y-yes." He murmured out, looking absolutely mortified. "I don't want to, but, yes."

Still feeling incredibly guilty over everything that had happened, Courage decided that he'd throw Computer a bone on this issue. The glowing dog looked so frightened that he couldn't help but feel bad. He didn't want to press the issue if he didn't have to.

"Look, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't really want to. I won't force you to talk."

Computer seemed to seriously consider it for a moment but then shook his head. "No, I know how you are. If I don't tell you now I know it will come back to haunt me later. I want to get this out of the way and go back to pretending that nothing ever happened. Actually, I think I'd like to start forgetting about this whole fiasco as soon as possible."

"I'm serious though." Courage pressed. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I won't make you do anything and I won't bring it up again either if you really don't want me to."

"I _must_." He sighed. "If I leave you in the dark I'm sure you're going to start getting all the wrong ideas."

Courage blinked with surprise. "About what?"

"About, well, everything!" He gasped. "You probably think that I'm some wimpy calculator now! One who cowers at every strange sight or sound!" He crossed his arms and put on an air of annoyance. "I'm not like _you_!" He spat. "And thus I need to set the record straight."

Courage couldn't help but laugh. Computer looked so worried at the prospect of being considered a coward that he couldn't help but find it amusing.

"It wasn't supposed to be funny!" He yelped. "If you had any idea-"

"Don't worry about it." Courage said, trying to comfort the irate machine. "Everyone is afraid of something. That doesn't make you a coward."

"But..." He went on, looking even more dejected. "You think that I'm afraid of, well, _you_ now. I-I can't let that fly. I'm not so weak, so pathetic that-"

"It's okay." Courage replied. "I understand. Things got a bit crazy back there and your head wasn't completely together. You made a mistake and-"

"You're just mocking me now, aren't you?" He huffed.

"I mean what I'm saying." He replied with a shake of his head. "Not everyone is always being sarcastic, you know."

"Hmph! Just because you tried to beat my face in back there doesn't mean that I'm afraid of a wimp like you!" He shot back. "Nor when you tried to strangle me either!" He shook his head and quickly amended that statement. "I mean when that _fake _you tried to strangle me to death."

Courage got the sense that he were lying and was just trying to save face at this point. The fact that he really _was _afraid of him was simply surreal. He _wanted _to believe that what he was saying really were true, if only that meant he didn't have to live with knowledge that he had somehow actually managed to make that cynical jerk afraid of him.

"I'm used to it though." He sighed. "It doesn't matter to me either way. I-I remember when one wretched owner of mine smashed my keyboard in. I-It wasn't the most pleasant sensation, but-" He glanced away, a forlorn expression falling across his face. Several minutes passed before he spoke again. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, especially when you said that I didn't have to explain anything. Well, I guess I'll start from the top, if I must." He shifted around rather nervously again.

"She smashed my keyboard in over something I had said to her." He went on. "She got so angry with me and the funny part was that I hadn't even tried to make her mad. We'd-" He closed his eyes for a moment, pain briefly flashing across his face. "We'd actually gotten along pretty well up until that point. I never quite figured out what set her off like that."

He reached a paw up in front his face and clenched it together. "They're a bit like fingers, you know." He said, seemingly going off-topic. "Or at least that's what it feels like to me. The keys on my keyboard are one of the few things I have any external control over. Not that it's much use to me when I can impute commands internally. They are...painfully sensitive however."

He paused for a moment before continuing. It was like he needed to reflect on everything he was going to say before actually saying it. Courage could practically see the emotions running through him as they happened. He could not keep his expression neutral no matter how hard he tried.

"I never liked having a keyboard after that, but I can't, of course, go without one as a computer. That's why I always ask you not to pound away at the keys. That sensation never stopped being anything but nerve wracking after what she did. I don't exactly feel pain, at least not like how it feels in this organic body, but it's still as much of an unpleasant feeling as ever."

He let out an exasperated sigh and waved a paw impassively. "So forgive me if that puts me at the same level of cowardice as you. I'm sure you would feel same way if someone forced you to stand stark still while they smashed your fingers to pieces."

Courage stared, unsure of what to say.

"What, aren't you going to laugh?" He asked, an edge of bitterness seeping into his voice.

"A-are you kidding me?" He gasped. "Why would I laugh at something like that?"

"It's pathetic." He muttered.

"Pathetic or not, it's not something to laugh at!"

The machine shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me either way. If anything, it taught me how vain and vapid she was." He let out a hollow laugh. "I was able to reduce her to a blubbering mess all with a few childish insults! I _was _worried that she might do something worse to me after that, but I figured that if she were going to do even more damage, I should at least get my revenge on her first. Well, I ended up showing her just how petty she really was!"

Courage swallowed and asked, "Did she try to smash you up again?"

The machine's gleeful expression hardened. "She threatened me plenty of times after that, but she never went through with any of it. One day she just tossed me out without another word. I'm sure she thought that I would be left in a junkyard to rust for the rest of my miserable existence. Thankfully, that didn't happen, and I ended up in the hands of another owner." He gave Courage another sardonic smile. "I've had plenty of close calls like that. It's how I get around it seems. Most people who take me in rarely last more than a few days. I like it that way though. The less time I have to deal with one of you fools, the better."

"All except for me." Courage added.

"That's only because I'm useful to you." He cynically replied.

"But I'm still happy to have you around."

A flicker of a smile, surprisingly lacking in cynicism, crossed the machine's face. "You really are too nice for your own good." He chuckled. "Nothing good ever comes from trying to be so-" He struggled to find the right words. "so non-confrontational."

"It hasn't failed me yet!" He replied with a laugh.

"This is a ripe opportunity to finally get back at me for everything I've ever said or done to you and you aren't even taking it."

"Maybe you just assume the worse in people too much."

"As if I don't have good reason for it!"

Courage took a moment to shift around and get the blood flowing back into his legs. He wasn't feeling as stiff as he had before and most of the aching all through his body had receded into a dull throb.

"I suppose I should continue." Computer went on. "I'm not quite sure what else to say though. There's so much I could tell you about, but-"

"What about that 'him' guy?" Courage asked. "That was who you were going to talk about."

Computer cringed at the question. "I-I think I'll leave him for last." He replied rather weakly. "I'm going to need to work up the nerve first." He shook his head and sighed. "I never thought I'd be sitting here in a place like this telling _you _of all people about what's happened to me in the past."

End Of Chapter


	34. System Error

Chapter 34: System Error

Computer continued to talk about as much as he possibly could. He brought up a great deal of different things and not all of them were bad. In fact, a great deal of them were actually pretty funny. When it became apparent that Courage was willing to listen to whatever he had to say, he seemed to start avoiding his more unhappier memories and focus on the happier ones. Of course, no matter what he talked about, he always seemed to paint his old owners in a very cynical light. It seemed that whenever he spoke of a previous owner, his tone would become very hateful, but he'd often leave out the reasons why he felt that way. He seemed to be outright avoiding any particular abuses he had endured.

It admittedly bothered Courage at just how vengeful he seemed to be. As humorous as some of his stories were, nearly all of them dealt with him tricking his owners into doing something embarrassing, or worse. It seemed that back then his life had only revolved around finding new and more interesting ways to spite his owners and Courage had a bad feeling that many of them probably didn't even deserve it. Computer's ability to manipulate and blackmail people into doing nearly anything was almost scary. He found himself especially not amused when he admitted to often picked out the most silly or embarrassing solutions to his various problems just to get a good laugh out of it.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He yelped. "You made me lick that foot fungus on purpose?"

"Well, you see..." Computer trailed off, giving him a small but nasty grin.

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to get that taste out of my mouth?" He asked, his voice slowly rising. "And that's not even bringing up the fact that my tongue started talking to me too!"

"Hmm, perhaps I shouldn't have brought this up after all." Computer chuckled out rather nervously.

"And what about that whole therapist thing?"

"What about it?"

"Was that just one big...ugh, never mind." He sighed, giving up.

Computer laughed again. "Well, it's not as if I've ever actually led you astray. My methods always work in the end."

"Bleh..." Courage groaned, not particularly amused. "Well, I guess it _was_ pretty funny when Eustace had to do that whole flowing gown thing to exorcize that demon." He admitted with a chuckle.

Computer smirked. "If I do recall correctly, you had to do that whole flowing gown thing too."

Courage rolled his eyes. "No thanks to you."

"You're welcome." He laughed.

"Aside from going out of your way to embarrass me, what else do you have to talk about?" Courage asked. "You've been avoiding talking about 'him', you know."

Computer's smile faded. "You just have to spoil my fun, don't you? Alright, alright, I'll get to some of the things I _don't _want to talk about."

"You never know, it might actually make you feel better."

Computer shook his head and let out a sigh. "I doubt it." He shifted around rather uncomfortably again and then continued, "I suppose I'll talk about that one idiot first."

"And just who's this idiot?" Courage asked. "Last time I checked, you call _everyone _idiots."

The machine halted for a moment to gather up his thoughts and then finally began his story. "I was once bought to be used as an office computer. I was a cheap buy, of course, and I had just the right specifications for all the work that they needed done. I spent most of my time being shuffled around the office, between several different humans. I was pretty much put to use anywhere a computer would be needed. I eventually ended up in the hands of this annoying, ugly, slob of a man. He was fat, stupid, and severely idiotic. He could barely formulate a single unique thought in that tiny melon of a head and all he ever cared about was a raise and whatever food he could shovel into his gaping hole of a mouth.

"I honestly didn't care what he did with all the junk he left sitting around his desk, but I _did _care about all the drinks he'd leave sitting on my monitor like it was cup stand! I got to spend most of my time in that office worrying about stray elbows and people bumping into my desk. All it would have taken is one splash of soda and I would be reduced to a pile of scrap metal! I told him at least a million times not to leave his carbonated crap sitting on my monitor, but he never listened!"

He grit his teeth in anger and continued, "Despite all my warnings, he never stopped! Finally someone did bump into a cup one day and I never even stood a chance! I went up in sparks! I can still remember seeing the liquid run down my screen! When it hit my main components, they-" He halted and his eyes began to widen. "I-It was the longest five seconds of my life. I knew what was coming and I couldn't do anything about it. I was fully aware and conscious as my insides burnt up. It took forever for something crucial to finally give out and pull me into unconsciousness."

Courage stared at his friend. He was just barely able to hold back a soft whine. "How did you survive?" He asked in a small voice.

"I'm not quite sure." He sighed. "I wasn't really aware of much afterwords. Apparently I was taken to a repair shop. I'm sure they figured it would be cheaper to have me fixed than to buy a whole new computer, but-" He stopped again before continuing much more slowly. "I must have been nearly unsalvageable after that incident. It would have cost them a fortune to have me fixed. I can only assume that a few other workers who knew I could talk vouched for me."

"And what about the guy who caused it? Did he care at all?" Courage asked.

"Him!" Computer growled."Bah! He was convinced that I couldn't really talk! He thought he was just hearing things when I spoke, or he'd think that me talking was all just an elaborate prank orchestrated by his co-workers. Whenever I spoke to him, he ignored me. Even when I made myself difficult to use, he still ignored me. I thought that if I made him angry enough he'd finally acknowledge my existence, but no, in the end he was just as stubborn as I was. Part of me wants to believe that he knocked over that cup on purpose, but then I'd have to acknowledge that he might have been smart enough to try and sabotage me." The machine halted and waited for Courage to ask him another question.

"What, not going to interrupt me this time?" He asked with a wry smile.

Courage shook his head.

"Alright then." He replied with a shrug. "I became conscious several times while being worked on in the repair shop. I'd...rather not think about that though. It was like waking up with third degree burns. You can't even begin to imagine how it felt. A great deal of my internal components had to be replaced or fixed up. Most of them were still connected to me while they were being repaired or been taken out. It was like being awake during a surgery. It wasn't exactly fun when I watched them take out what was my equivalent to organs. They dissected me like a dead animal and then slowly put me back together again. It was...awful." He let out another weak and shaky sigh.

"I should have died back there." He went on. "Eighty-nine percent of my components were damaged beyond repair. Nearly everything within that machine I inhabit had to be replaced. Sure, they could have gotten a proper computer to eventually run in that burnt out shell of a machine, but I should have died when so much of my internal workings went up in sparks. My sentience is supposed to be tied to those parts. When they were replaced, I should have gone with them, but in the end, I did not." He shook his head. "I don't know how or why, but somehow I survived."

"Are you really sure you're tied to your parts?" Courage asked. "I mean, taking over the bodies of other people isn't exactly normal for a computer. You might be supernatural in some sense."

"I can't say for certain." He replied. "A very large portion of my memory is corrupt beyond repair. I can't remember any of my early life. I don't know where I come from, who built me, or even why. I can't even say for certain _if _someone actually built me. I prefer not to worry about it though, but sometime I do wonder."

Courage grinned. "Maybe you're just a strange Frankenstein-like experiment."

Computer rolled his eyes in response. "I think you need to lay off the sci-fi movies, kid." He grumbled. "Bah! Knowing my luck I'm probably powered by the souls of dead children or something awful like that! It's not as if life hasn't punched me in the gut enough times already!"

Courage couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe I should start calling you Frankenstein then."

"Frankenstein wasn't the monster, you twit!" He scolded him. "Perhaps you would be better off watching less movies and reading more books!"

"O-oh..." Courage murmured out sheepishly. "I-I didn't know that."

"As you can imagine," Computer went on, getting back to his story. "I was more than just a little angry after I was brought back to the office. I began plotting a way to get back at that fool of an idiot. I wanted him to suffer as much as I had, and I wasn't going to give up until I got my revenge. My immobility was quite the hindrance, as always, but after a considerable amount of ingenuity and 'help' from my fellow workers, I was able to set up a means to hurt him." A nasty grin fell across his face. "Badly." He then let out a surprisingly unhinged laugh. "I got things set up so that if he so much as touched me or my keyboard, he'd get electrocuted."

Courage's eyes widened. "W-what happened then?"

Computer's already nasty grin widened. "He made the mistake of ignoring me, of course! I warned him what would happen if he touched me and he didn't listen! Hahaha! Watching that fool shake before he fell was one of the most satisfying moments of my life!"

Courage was growing uncomfortable with Computer's sudden change in demeanor. He was all but gleeful in recounting the murder he had apparently committed. Maybe that man did deserve to die, but it still didn't feel right to just sit there and watch as Computer practically turned into a maniac as he recounted the event. The fact that the machine had been perfectly willing to kill someone seriously frightened him.

"Don't look at me like that, dog." He said, dismissing him with a wave of his paw. "I know what you're thinking, and no, he lived, as much as I hate to admit it. Things didn't quite turn out as I had planned and he ended up not receiving a high enough voltage to kill him. It's truly a shame." He let out a sigh. "All that effort and I still didn't manage to kill him." He glanced back over at Courage. "What, you don't seriously feel bad for him, do you?

"I don't think I can get behind electrocuting anyone." He replied, feeling particularly brave.

"He almost killed me!" Computer yelled. "He deserved it!"

"I'm sure it was an accident!"

"I warned him over and over again! It was his own fault for being sloppy! Don't you understand what I had to go through?"

"Two wrongs don't make a right!" He argued. "And besides, what if you started getting other ideas after that? What if you started zapping anyone you didn't like?"

"Then I would have had to start zapping everybody in sight." Computer replied, trying to humor him. "You're worrying about something that never came to be, dog! I never did anything to anyone after that and I don't plan on starting anytime soon. Why don't I put this into terms that you can understand? What if someone like Katz took Muriel, burned her into a charred husk, and then left her to die. There would be hell to pay if he did that. You'd never let him get away with it."

"That isn't the same!" Courage yelled. "What happened to you was an accident. Katz would do something like that on purpose."

"It doesn't matter!" He snapped. "That idiot's willful ignorance doesn't change what he did to me! I will not forgive him and I will certainly not act like I did something wrong! That bastard deserved what he got! The time I spent in that repair shop was pure hell and he deserved to understand what that felt like! If I could have moved on my own back then, I would have ripped him to shreds! I would have made him feel every last bit of pain I felt! I would have torn his limbs off and I would have-"

"Computer!" Courage interjected, trying to get the glowing dog to calm down.

"WHAT!" He all but screamed, causing him to flinch.

"C-calm down, okay?" He asked in a tiny voice.

The machine's expression lightened. "Yes, yes, you're right. I got a bit carried away."

"A bit?" He asked.

"Alright, a lot." He huffed.

"Computer, I don't want to say that electrocuting him was right, and I'm not, but I'm really sorry about what you had to go through." He gave him a weak smile. "Anyone in your place would have been just as angry."

The machine's expression lightened even further. "Well, thank you." He said. He then turned his gaze back downwards. "I suppose I should wrap this up then, huh? After I sent that idiot off to the hospital, I assume that the people who knew me started to get afraid. It wasn't long after that before they sold me off and had me replaced. I didn't mind it much though, I wasn't friends with any of them anyway."

"And what about 'Him'?" Courage asked. "Is that who they sold you to?"

"No, that came later." He sighed, a shiver running through him. "B-but I suppose it's time."

The glowing dog did a quick glance around the den, acting as though he expected to see that 'he' guy somewhere around. He swallowed, hard, but couldn't seem to will himself to speak.

"I-I'm not even sure were to begin." He managed to blurt out. "I suppose I should start from the very beginning, but-"

"But, what?" Courage asked when he didn't continue.

He placed a paw to his head, acting as though it were causing him immense pain. His squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and grit his teeth, and then, as quickly as it had started, it was over. He slowly relaxed and began to speak again.

"I don't know why I'm doing this." He muttered out under his breath. "I've spent so long trying to forget. If I dredge it all up again, I might..."

"Computer?" Courage asked, drawing himself in closer to his friend.

The machine gazed upward and continued to mutter to himself. "Perhaps 'he' is my punishment for the way I've treated everyone. My karma finally catching up with me, so to speak. I-I don't think I'll ever understand. If I go out of my way to be nice, I suffer. If I go out of my way to treat others as badly as they treat me, I still suffer." He closed his eyes. "Am I really so awful that-"

"Computer?" Courage asked again, interrupting his mumbling. This time the machine jumped at his voice. His gaze turned back onto him and Courage was surprised to find that he looked rather depressed. "Are you going to be alright?" He asked, reaching a paw out to him.

Computer gave him a long, hard stare and then, much to his surprise, sorrowfully shook his head 'no'.

He gripped his friend's arm, hoping to make him feel a little better in the process. "Look, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you to do anything."

"The damage is already done." The machine muttered out sadly. "I've spent so long trying not to think about what happened, to try and forget what he did to me, but it's all been a hopeless endeavor. I can't forget no matter how hard I try and what happened here today has only managed to-" He stopped again as another tremor ran through his body.

"Hey, you're going to be alright." Courage gently spoke. He wanted to be as reassuring as possible in the face of his cynical friend's steady decline.

"No, no I'm not." He sighed. "I haven't been 'alright' for a very long time. The damage was already done long before this." Computer's voice grew tense. "That bastard befouled my programming so deeply that I can't even think about what he did without causing errors! He tampered with my inner most workings, my mind, and my very soul! He...HE RUINED ME!" The machine all but screamed those last few words out. His tone had become utterly and completely horror struck.

"I can't do this!" He moaned, clutching his head. "Normally, I get lucky. If I think too much about it, I just end up generating a bunch of errors and eventually crash." He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his head even harder. "But...but in this organic body...I-I can't..." He let out a weak cry, seemingly overtaken by his growing fear. "Flesh creatures don't get errors or crash! I-I'm trapped in here! I can't shut down! I can't do anything! If this keeps up I'll go into an endless feedback loop! I-I can't access anything in this organic body! I can't stop it! I'm going to die, aren't I? Yes, that's it! I'm going to die! He's won, hasn't he? I'm going to die and he's going to get the last laugh!"

Courage did the only thing he could think of. He jumped forward and grasped both of Computer's paws. "You're going to be fine!" He yelled out in desperation. He was, of course, not really sure if Computer was going to be alright or not, but he had to do something before his friend lost it completely.

"No, no, no!" He moaned, swaying back and forth like a tower about to collapse. "I'll go into a feedback loop and then there will be a total system failure! I can't access any of my programing in this body! I'm as good as dead!"

"You're going to be fine!" Courage reaffirmed for a second time. "Talk to me! Just keep talking! You can't go into a feedback loop if you just keep talking!" Once again, he had no idea if this was actually true or not, but at the moment he was simply saying whatever came to his mind first.

"I-I can't!" Computer cried out. He made a vain attempt to free himself from Courage's grip but the dog wasn't about to let him go.

"I want you to tell me everything that's happened to you, absolutely everything! Just keep talking, that's all that matters! You're going to get through this!"

Computer ceased his struggling and gave him a long consideration before saying, "Okay, I'll do it, but..."

"Just talk, don't worry about anything else, alright? You said before that you were going to start by telling me how he got you. Why not start there? Why not tell me what his name is first?"

"I can't." Computer muttered, sounding slightly more coherent now. "I couldn't say his name even if I wanted to. He's modified my programming in that regard. He used to said that a machine didn't have the right to call him by anything other than master. Well, he went and changed it so that I could do nothing but that."

Courage nodded. "That's okay. I'm sure if he's that awful, he doesn't deserve to have his name spoken anyway."

There was a slight tremble in the machine's voice as he continued to speak. "He enjoyed doing little things like that when he made modifications to my programming. I still have many relics of his tampering messing with my everyday functions. I can't fix most of it, and they still cause me constant problems. You organic creatures can't cut yourselves open to operate on your internal organs without help and I can't do the same when it comes to my system. Most of my programming is impossible for me to alter by myself. An outside source would have to do that, but..." He let out a weak sigh. "I've never had anyone who would help."

He began to grow distant again. His eyes started to unfocused and his body became limp. It was only a sharp shake from Courage that drew him back into reality.

"Come on, Computer. Keep talking." He demanded, keeping his voice both gentle but also stern.

His friend seemed to focus again, but his entire form was still trembling. "R-right..." He muttered out. "I'm very lucky that he never found a way to completely negate my free will. I would have easily been reduced to a non-sentient machine if he had been given the chance to do so. The sheer extent of his damage is-" He trailed off again.

"Come on! Focus!" Courage reaffirmed, gripping him even harder.

The machine swallowed and then continued, "I've only been functioning on patchwork ever since I got away from him. I barely even managed to piece myself back together again. It was not enough though." He shook his head and gave Courage a small but sad smile. "It will _never_ be enough. Too much of me was damaged. It's only a matter of time before it all falls apart again. I wasn't meant to survive if anything ever went wrong or if I was ever stolen from him. He didn't want anyone else to have me, not under any circumstances. He set it up so that I'd simply fall apart if he wasn't there to maintain me. He had to make sure there wasn't any evidence left in case someone ever found out what he had done."

"And what did he do then?" Courage asked.

"What he did? That's where it all begins. I may not have been able to kill that office worker, but I am still responsible for a murder. He wanted that 'strange talking machine' and he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way to get it. That was were this all began. It started with the death that I couldn't prevent."

End Of Chapter


	35. The Whole Catastrophe

A/N: Some things went down in real life and lets just say that I have no money and bills that need paying. I don't think I'll be updating again until things get sorted out. I wanted to get this chapter out as quickly as possible. Hopefully my RL problems will eventually blow over and I'll be fine but until then don't expect updates.

Chapter 35: The Whole Catastrophe

"My owner at the time was a huge loudmouth, he couldn't keep anything to himself. I'm sure he went around bragging about the talking computer he found. I'm even more sure that this was how 'He' found out about me. I didn't care much for this owner, he wasn't cruel to me but I wasn't willing trust him and he didn't deserve my trust anyway. His absentmindedness constantly annoyed me, I'm not even sure how that twit managed to get around in life before I came along. He wouldn't even remember to put his pants on if I wasn't around remind him." Computer stopped then and didn't continue.

"Go on..." Courage said trying to get him talking again.

"One day he started to act strangely. He seemed to be more paranoid and forgetful then usual, at least more then what was normal for him already. He never told me what was going on. It was strange since he normally never shut up about anything. I have a bad feeling that He probably tried to talk him into handing me over. He probably offered to pay him and I'm sure he refused. He must have threatened him when he wouldn't give me up. If I have to give him credit for one thing, it's this. He wouldn't give me up even after being offered money and threatened." The machine shifted again.

"You can keep going." Courage reassured him. The machine needed constant encouragement. He was acting as if talking about this was physically hurting him and Courage couldn't pass up the possibility that maybe it was.

"Then a night came when I heard something strange. I'd thought that a burglar was breaking into the apartment but...I didn't care." He shook his head gently. "I didn't care! I didn't bother to wake him up! I figured that if a burglar got in and stole some things it didn't matter! I didn't even care if a burglar stole me either! I was used to being moved from one owner to another so why did it matter? I figured that it didn't matter if I was stolen and sold off to someone else. If only I had known! If only I had cared! I...I..."

He began to shiver again. "The intruder made it inside but my owner did not wake up. When He walked in the first thing he did was look at me. That was the moment I knew something was horribly wrong. That was the moment I knew that I was in deep trouble. The way he looked at me was just...unsettling. He looked at me as though he had just hit the jackpot, won a lottery, cornered his prey, found the one thing he'd spent his whole life hunting. He just smiled at me and then he took out a gun and...shot my owner dead, right then and there. He never even woke up, he was dead before the bullet even touched his skull. Poor fool never knew what hit him. If I had just woken him up...If I had just..."

The machine's eyes seemed to fade out again. Courage had to give him a small shake to get him back to normal again. His continuous fade outs were starting to get worrying. Every time he did it he seemed to come back even more and more out of it. Courage was beginning to worry that maybe he really was dying from all of this and he was even more worried that there was nothing he could do about it.

"If I had just woken him up I could have spared us both our unhappy fates." He continued. "How could I have been so callous?"

"He had a gun." Courage replied. "Even if you had woken him up he still would have been shot. He would have died either way."

"That doesn't matter!" He shouted, his voice almost growing hysterical again. "I could have at least tried to save him! I could have saved myself too! I didn't bother, and we both suffered for it!"

Courage was starting to get a lingering suspicion that Computer maybe cared about his old owner more then he was letting on. "You couldn't help what happened to him You shouldn't blame yourself." He replied.

"I didn't like him, he annoyed me to no end, but he didn't deserve that! He didn't deserve to die because of me! He was the first and only human to treat me like...like an equal, like I was another person." He chuckled sadly. "It was only because he was so hopeless without me of course. He always needed my help to remember even the most mundane tasks, but he would always talk to me as if I were another person. I can't say that I was happy with him but it was...better then what I was used to."

"It still wasn't your fault." Courage interjected. He could understand what it must have felt like. If someone had ever broken into the farmhouse and shot Muriel, he'd...

"I couldn't do anything, I certainly couldn't fight back. He took me away then. It was all over in an instant. I didn't even bother saying anything to him. What could I have even said? I had no idea what was going on, where I was going, or what was even going to happen to me. The only thing I did know was that this man was desperate enough to kill someone to have me. I knew deep down that nothing good was going to come of this and I was very much correct."

The machine sighed. "He fancied himself a scientist. He looked the part, short, small, balding, huge glasses, beady little eyes, very mean looking. He was the type of person you flesh creatures avoid by instinct. One look at him and you knew he was bad news. He would strut about his lab in this ridiculous getup. I'd say he was trying to go for the mad scientist look but he was so short he could never pull it off correctly. He was hopelessly arrogant and very much on a power trip, but he was also incredibly cunning. If he had ever gone toe to toe with you I think he would have given you far more trouble then many of your regular enemies. You should consider yourself lucky that he'd never take interest in an old couple living on a dusty old farm. I'm afraid that if he had ever found out where I was then you probably would have had to take him on, but..." He stopped.

"But what? After everything we've been through, I think a mad scientist would probably be a walk in the park." Courage replied trying to be light hearted.

Computer shook his head. "He'd kill you all. He could _still _kill you all. He's still out there and he could still be looking for me. He'd kill you and your owners without a single care in the world. It would be all my fault too. I should have told you sooner, he could have shown up at any time. I didn't say anything yet again and you all could have ended up like my old owner. I thought that you'd be like the rest of my owners. I thought that you'd only keep me for a little while before you'd get fed up with me and give me away to someone else. You didn't though, and I should have warned you of what might happen. I had just managed to stifle all those memories of what he did to me for good and I didn't want to dredge them back up again but it was selfish. I could have gotten you all killed."

"Come on Computer! You know I've been through worse then a crazy killer scientist! If he ever showed up I'd run him off like I do with everyone else. I _am _a good guard dog after all!" He replied, although he had to admit he'd never spoken so confidently about his job like this before. He hated nothing more then having to play 'games' with Katz or have a deadly battle with Le Quack. If he could have anything in the world it would be to just live his peaceful life without having to deal with all the craziness that Nowhere seemed to throw at him and his family. If he had to be confident about a possible killer scientist then he would be for Computer's sake. It was obvious that if this man ever showed up on the farm Computer would fall apart faster than a tumbling tower of blocks. If this man ever showed up Courage would be on his own...

Computer shook his head yet again. "I'm afraid you wouldn't stand much of a chance against a bullet to the brain. If he were to ever show up and possibly give you the option to hand me over without a fuss, the best thing you could do is give me up. Even if he didn't kill you outright if you refused, he'd find a way to harm you later. Besides, knowing Eustace he'd probably sell me off the moment a five dollar bill is waved in his face."

"Computer..." Courage muttered. He couldn't believe what he was asking of him. The last thing he'd ever do was give Computer back to a man like that. He'd never even let Eustace do something like that to him.

Unsure of what else to do, he wrapped the glowing dog into a hug. "Listen, you're family too, whether you like it or not. If he ever stole you from the farm, I'd be sure to get you back, I promise. I'd do everything I could to make sure he'd never get his hands on you again. I'd do for you the same I would do for Eustace and Muriel. You're family and I'll do everything I can to make sure he never harms you again."

There was a soft laugh from the machine. "Coming from the twit who won't even get me anti-virus?" There was a long silence before he continued with, "Family? But why? I've never done anything to warrant..."

Courage cut him off. "You've done plenty for us and besides, life on the farm wouldn't be normal without my cranky computer." He said and smiled softly.

Computer's expression did not lighten, in fact he almost seemed to be even more worse off.

"Come on! Lighten up! Everything is going to be alright!" He pressed the glowing dog into another hug.

"I will never understand...ugh, why do you insist on smothering me!" He blurted out.

"Smothering?" Courage asked stifling a laugh.

"Yes, smothering! I'd greatly enjoy it if you stopped!"

"Alright, fine." Courage replied still trying to force himself not to laugh.

"Good! Now this stupid body can actually breath properly again!"

"Computer..."

"What's the matter now?"

"Are...are you going to be alright? You're...not going to do that loop thing are you?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I seem to be alright but everything is so different in this body. It's funny, I'm completely mobile and yet I feel more trapped in here then I ever did in my real body."

Courage sighed. "Well, I was really worried about you for a moment."

"Worried? I've never been worried about before. Is this normal?"

Courage gave a weak laugh. "When is anything ever normal for us?"

The machine glanced always again, seemingly confused. "Family..." He muttered as if trying to wrap his head...processor...whatever around it. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah!"

"Family..." He muttered again.

"Computer..." Courage interjected. "You still haven't told me the rest of well... you know. How did you escape the scientist?"

"Oh...well.." Whatever enthusiasm he seemed to have gained over the last couple of minutes seemed to drain right out of him again. "You might as well get comfortable. This is another long story and now it gets a bit difficult to explain to someone who doesn't know anything about machines. It's funny really, the scientist didn't really want me actually, despite all the effort he went through to get me. What he really wanted was the ability to make _more_ of me. At the end of the day I was pretty much just the bi-product that would eventually be destroyed once my usefulness ran out."

End Of Chapter

A/N: Chapter Seven was revised a week or two ago. Go check it out.


	36. Imperfections

A/N: Financial situation is looking a little bit better but unfortunately I pulled a number on my hand and now typing has been a bit difficult. Despite my difficulties this chapter has become the longest in this story so far. I wasn't even aiming to make it this long but it just kinda turned out that way.

Chapter 36: Imperfections

"After he murdered my owner he took me to his lab and set me up there. At first he just talked with me, he asked a lot of questions and most of them I could not answer. He made it very clear during our first conversation that if I did not cooperate with him he'd make sure that I'd wish I had. I was stupid enough not to take his threat seriously..." The machine gave a nervous glance as if expecting to find Him standing beside him.

"I gave him quite a bit of lip and he stopped me almost immediately. I had been stupid enough to think that he couldn't actually hurt me. I mean sure, he could damage my physical body but I didn't think he could...could get _inside _me. I'd never had anyone try to hack into me before and it was nothing like I could have ever imagined. I couldn't fight back, I couldn't do anything, all I could do was just barely keep myself protected from his assault. He shut me up very quickly and very effectively."

The glowing dog sighed gently. "It was painful, very, very painful. It was like having a white hot nail being hammered into your brain. You can feel your skull cracking with every blow. The heat of the nail never dulls, the cracks in your protective casing only grow wider. It was an endless, unrelenting agony."

The machine shook his head listlessly. "He thought I was lying. Most of the questions he initially asked me were about how I functioned. I didn't have any answers to give him because I don't know myself. He thought I was trying to protect my secrets and no matter how many times I tried to tell him otherwise he never believed me. He made it clear that if I didn't tell him what he wanted to know he'd eventually work his way through my programming and figure it out himself. He told me that I'd be saving myself a lot of pain if I just told him...but...but I didn't have any answers to give him."

"He didn't care about me, not even slightly. He was always planning on discarding me in the end. He knew he was probably going to have to strip me clean to get all the information he wanted. He didn't expect me to survive and so he never bothered to be clean or careful about it. What he really wanted to do was make more A.I. for himself. He wanted obedient little slaves with all my capabilities and none of the free will getting in his way."

"But why?" Courage asked him. "You can't really be used for a whole lot. I think a bunch of you running around would just get annoying."

Computer glared at him.

"No offense." He laughed.

"You just don't have much of an imagination." He replied rolling his eyes. "I don't know why he was so keen on making more A.I.. There are certainly uses he could have gotten out of something like me though. Perhaps he wanted something cliche like world domination. He could have pulled it off with an army of A.I. under his command. Perhaps he just wanted something simple like being named the first person to have created an advanced A.I.. With me out of the way there wouldn't have been evidence that one existed before his own. He could have gotten into a position with some serious power after gaining a title like that. He could have started threatening any government in any part of the world after something like that. With his little army he could have hacked into any government mainframe and spiraled the world into and endless war if he so felt like it."

"So you could be seriously dangerous in the wrong hands..." Courage replied realizing the implications of what Computer was saying.

"Not so long as I have the ability to oppose whatever a person would want." He waved a paw passively. "I've always had a knack for finding my way into things that humans would have a hard time hacking. Most of the information I've found for you over the years actually comes from classified sources. The government likes to hide the existence of supernatural beings but thankfully they do keep records of them, even if they _are _locked up tight on their database."

"So wait, you could take control of_ any _governments stockpile of weapons and you haven't even considered doing something with that kind of power?"

The machine blinked. "No, not really."

"But...but...that's what the computers always do in the movies!" He argued.

"Well excuse me if world domination isn't on my list of things to do. I didn't know _you _were such a psychopath though."

Courage shook his head. "No, no! I didn't mean it like that!"

Computer rolled his eyes again. "Why would I even _want_ to rule over you flesh creatures? That just sounds like a headache waiting to happen."

Courage shook his head in defeat. "You are the only person I know who'd not take over the world just because it sounds like it's too much of a hassle..."

"For all I know I could have been made to do just that." He replied with a shrug. "I like to think that if He had tried to claim that he was the first to create an A.I. then maybe I'd really have a creator out there who'd actually get angry enough to fight his claims. Of course if I really do have a creator who'd actually care about something like that then I'm sure we'd be in the history books right now and I wouldn't have been left to fend for myself."

"Maybe that's what we could do once this is all over with. I could help you find the person who made you!" Courage said this hoping that maybe it would cheer Computer up a little bit.

"Speculation is fun and all but..." He hesitated for a moment. "If I really was made by someone, I don't think I'd really want to find out who. I don't even want to meet them again really. There's probably a good reason for why I can't remember where I come from. For all I know finding the person who made me might put me into another situation even worse then what He put me through. Those sciencey types never see me as anything more than just an interesting anomaly. If I have a creator he'd probably treat me just as horribly as He did. I don't ever want to be someone's pet science experiment again."

"I guess that makes sense." Courage replied. "I just thought maybe you'd want to find out about something like that..."

"It's an interesting thing to think about but not something I would want to live through. At this point I'd rather not take the risk. Anyway, back to what I was initially talking about...where was I..."

He paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "Oh, yes. For awhile we fought, it was a endless battle. He was trying to worm his way into my system and I was defending myself to the best of my abilities. For the longest time neither of us could gain the advantage over the other but in the end I was destined to lose no matter how hard I fought. He could go and rest while he let his programs whittle away at me. I had to constantly remain alert and keep fighting, I could never rest like he could. As time wore on I began to grow tired. I was already inexperienced at fighting off hackers so it was only a matter of time until I'd eventually slip up. By fighting I was only delaying the inevitable and he knew it right from the beginning. No matter what I might try I'd eventually get too tired to keep his programs from worming their way inside my system."

"Eventually I had to stop. I thought I could just let my defenses handle the onslaught while I took some time to recuperate. I should have never let my guard down. As soon as I stopped actively monitoring the attacks on my defenses, the programs he employed quickly found ways in through the cracks. As soon as just a little bit of it got inside the rest of my defenses came crumbling down almost instantly. They invaded like vines chocking out a plant. I...I don't think I could describe to you what it's like to have my system hacked into. It was like...like...no, no, no, no..." He began uttering small 'no's over and over again. His paws began clutching his head just like before.

"Computer?" Courage called out, reaching a paw to him.

"Broken! I'm broken! Damaged beyond all repair!" His eyes fell on Courage again, filled with disbelief and despair.

"How can you even want a computer like me around?" He asked desperately. "I can barely function! He ruined me! He ruined what little good I was! I may as well be worthless!" He clutched his head desperately.

"I was whole and functional computer before he came along and ripped everything apart! You should have just tossed me out and gotten a new computer! Even a twit like you deserves someone better than me! I am the epitome of imperfection now! _Any _computer can run better then I can! I may be able to talk but that's the only thing I've got going for me anymore and even then I hardly qualify as a person!" The sheer self loathing in his voice almost seemed to hang in the air with his every word.

"Computer, come on. You know that isn't true." Courage replied trying to remain lighthearted. He was admittedly taken aback by Computer's confession. He never thought that Computer could think so lowly about himself. After all the bragging he used to do, was this really how he felt about himself?

"But it's true! It's all true!" He muttered sadly. "If you had ever asked me to do anything outside of finding information I doubt I would have been able to do it for you. I can hardly be called a proper computer anymore. I can barely even keep myself functional. For every part of my system I fix, two more sections crumble apart all over again! I could never allow myself to be seen by my possible creator, they'd laugh at what they'd see!"

"Computer, you can hack into anything, even organic people!" He gestured to the glowing dog trying to get his point across. "It's obvious that there aren't very many computers around that can think for themselves. Who cares if you can't do all the things a normal computer can? The fact that you can do all those other things should make up for it!"

The glowing dog shook his head. "None of that matters, I'm no good. I may as well be junk if I can't function properly."

"You're a perfectly fine computer." Courage replied. It seemed that his reassurance wasn't convincing the machine though.

"I'm not! I-I'm supposed to be better than this!"

"Computer...is there anything I've ever asked you that you couldn't answer? Muriel, Eustace, and I are only alive today because of you! Who cares if you can't do everything? Nobody can!"

The machine shook his head even more vehemently. "Twice! I was thrown out twice because I couldn't handle all of the functions of a normal computer anymore! I didn't even intentionally make them angry! I was still recovering from what He did to me, I didn't have time to bother arguing with some stupid human! If it didn't matter they wouldn't have thrown me out for not being a proper computer!"

Courage had to stifle a sigh. It seemed like there was no getting through to him. It suddenly made sense why his angry rantings from before had hurt the machine so badly. As much as Computer liked to hide behind his ego, this was how he really felt about himself. The worst part of it all was that none of it was true. To Courage or to any other sane individual, Computer could hardly call himself worthless. Just having a mind of his own was enough to make him better than any other computer around.

"Come on, Computer! You're perfectly fine!"

"I'm not! I'm no good anymore! I may as well be a human who's lost his arms and legs! That's about as good as I am anymore!"

"But you aren't!" Courage reaffirmed yet again. For the third time that night he pulled his mechanical friend into a hug. He figured that since it had helped pull him out of his daze last time then maybe this time it would pull him out of his self pity.

The machine stiffened again. "Ah! You're trying to crush me again!" He said surprised. "Is this like an involuntary action for you organic creatures or something? I don't see what the point of it is!"

Courage had to force himself not to laugh at Computer's annoyance. He had always thought that the machine knew _everything, _or at least that was the way he had come off during all the times they had talked to each other. This was obviously wasn't true but he couldn't help but find it funny that Computer didn't seem to understand even some of the most basic human interactions. Of course Courage also knew that if he himself had been raised more as a normal dog he'd be trying to lick him right now or even something more doggish...

"It's a hug." He explained. "And it's supposed to make you feel better."

"Well it's not! Can you please let me go now?" He asked.

Courage couldn't stop himself from laughing this time. Computer's plead to be let go was just too funny to not laugh.

"W-what?" Computer asked, clearly growing embarrassed.

"I can't believe you don't know what a hug is!" He laughed.

"I-I do, but...but..." He stammered. He sounded so flustered that it only caused Courage to laugh harder.

"K-knowing what something is is not the same as grasping its full implication a-and..." He stopped, seeming to give up. He let out a soft sigh. "You see? I don't make a very convincing human either..."

Courage's laughter was quelled by the machine's words. He mentally kicked himself for making Computer feel worse. He was trying to help, not make him feel even more inferior...

"I-I was just kidding you know." He said to the machine, who was beginning to look even more depressed.

"You tell me I'm not junk and yet you still laugh at me when I show inferiority? There's no point in lying to me you know! If that's really how you feel then stop pretending that..."

Courage cut him off. "I wasn't lying! It was just funny, okay? I wasn't trying to be cruel. Come on Computer, you're the only who's always telling me I need a better sense of humor."

The machine blinked. "You still do."

"It's alright if you aren't perfect, nobody is. Even if there are parts of you that don't work anymore, you're still a good enough computer." Courage gave him a weak smile. "Trust me!"

He could, on some level, understand how Computer was feeling. For awhile he had all but been consumed by his shame when he had felt that he couldn't be perfect enough for Eustace and Muriel. Between that, the recent emotional punch of remembering what had happened to his parents, almost losing Eustace and Muriel to the exact same vet, and ultimately feeling like he had failed his parents, he had subconsciously and nearly consciously drove himself insane trying to be as perfect as possible for Eustace and Muriel. Every little screw up Eustace had called him out on had felt like a hammer to his heart. For some time he had thought that he could do nothing right and then of course that strange teacher had shown up...

For someone like Computer, it must be torture to feel so inferior. He couldn't imagine Computer taking an existential crisis like the one he had very well at all. This must have been eating at him for a very long time now...

Taking a moment to think about it, he remembered the thing he had heard that ultimately pulled him out of his slump. _'There is no such thing as perfect. You are beautiful just as you are, Courage. You can do anything you want, even with all you're imperfections.' _

He knew Computer would never take something so sappy seriously. How could he get the same message across to him without him blowing it off like everything else?

"Computer, listen..."

"Don't bother!" He interrupted. "I don't want to hear it! You can say whatever you want but that doesn't change what's true!"

Gathering his thoughts as quickly as possible, he began forming the things he wanted to say. He was no great talker but maybe, just maybe, he could get the same message across to Computer without him blowing him off like usual.

"You are absolutely perfect just the way that you are." He said, trying to sound as sincere as he possibly could. "I'm sure coming from me this sounds stupid, but I was once told that imperfection only adds to your own perfection. There is no such thing as perfect outside of the perfection you see in yourself. I wouldn't have you change for anything in the world. Life with Muriel and Eustace just wouldn't be the same without you around. That has to mean something, doesn't it? I know my opinion doesn't matter much but even with all your imperfections you're still a great computer. I can't speak for anyone else but you aren't worthless, at least not to me, anything but actually..."

Computer crossed his arms. "I can't believe you're actually trying to sound deep. Well, I think you're going to need some work before you start making any speeches." He grumbled. "Honestly? I just can't believe I have to have you tell me that I'm not as bad as I think. Oh how far I have fallen..."

He shook his head in disbelief. "I think that's what I hate most about you. You always know how to make me feel better..."

"I guess I'll take that as a complement..."

"You know, I'd almost given up by the time we'd met. It was shortly after I was thrown out for a second time because I couldn't fulfill what my owner wanted. I'd pretty much given up at that point. I was tired of fighting the constant degeneration of my system and I figured that if I wasn't capable of being a proper computer anymore then why even bother? I'd been ready to die ever since He ruined me. The only reason I even kept fighting was just to spite him. Giving up would have meant that he won in the end and I wasn't willing to give him that under any circumstances." He sighed sadly. "But...after being rejected twice, I didn't even care anymore. He had won just by rendering me completely useless."

He gave Courage a strange look. "But then I got landed with you...For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was actually needed for something again. I decided to keep going because of that. I figured you'd eventually get rid of me anyway, so I decided that I could wait until then. Of course you never did and so I continued to persist indefinitely. After several years went by up in that attic I decided that I didn't want to die anymore, and so I stopped pretending like I was just waiting for an excuse to let my system degrade. It was nice to have purpose again, and even better, you were always so pathetic. I could always take out all my frustration on you. You soaked it up like a sponge, you never had a choice. It was either deal with me or let Muriel meet a horrible end."

He shook his head gently. "And that's what I don't get the most about you. I've never treated you kindly and yet you act like we've always been friends.

"But we are!" Courage replied. He couldn't imagine that Computer had been suicidal, he certainly never seemed like it, at least as far as he could remember. Of course up until a few minutes ago he had thought that Computer believed himself to be the best computer ever.

"Gah! That's the exact thing I'm talking about! We are not friends! And if you really are THAT convinced that we really are then you _must_ be a glutton for punishment! I know you have a thing for making friends with your enemies, but still! I've never treated you kindly! We aren't family either, you know! I was not born and thus I cannot have a family!"

"Let me guess..." Courage interjected. "What you're really thinking is that you don't _deserve _to have friends or family."

The machine gave him a double take. "O-of course not!"

"Computer, you just spent all that time trying to convince me that you're worthless. What else would you expect me to think? You can't have it both ways you know."

"Bah! I wish you were as stupid as you normally act!" He crossed his arms angrily. "No, I don't deserve either of those things and I wouldn't know how to act like a proper friend or family member either. I've never had friends and I've certainly never had family. I'm not cut out for either of those things and perhaps it's better that way."

"Just do whatever comes naturally."

The machine rolled his eyes. "What come naturally for me is to just tell you that you are twit and be on my merry way." He shook his head. "Nothing has ever come naturally for me, I've had to learn it all on my own. I've only gotten this far by observing you flesh creatures and all your little social nuances. I've managed to mimic most of them to the best of my abilities but you could say that I'm just a grade A fake in that regard too. I'm not a real person, I just know how to pretend to be like one."

"Think about how you're acting right now." Courage replied. "You're not just pretending. You're not just acting like this right now because it's how a normal person would. I'm sure whatever you're feeling right now is genuine."

"In some ways, yes, but..."

"Everyone has to learn as they grow up. Nobody was born knowing how to act, we all had to learn how to walk and talk. I'm sure it's just the same for you, just maybe in a slightly different way."

A small smile formed across the machine's mouth. "Oh? And just when did you start acting like you are actually intelligent? I can't believe I'm being lectured by you..."

Courage glared at him. "I've always been like this!"

"Uh huh, sure." The machine replied, still smiling. "Just because you can act intelligent doesn't mean you are..."

"Then what have I been saying this whole time? That's not just _acting _intelligent you know!"

"Oh don't worry, it will be a long time before I ever consider you genuinely intelligent." He replied smirking at Courage's expression. "I may be worthless but at least I'm not _you._"

"Thanks a lot..." Courage grumbled.

"You're welcome." He laughed.

"Well you see, we really are friends." Courage replied finally getting a chance to point out what he meant.

The smile faded from the machine's face. "What? I-I'm not being nice to you. How can you consider that friendship? I-I just told you off!"

Courage shrugged. "You just aren't getting it."

"Get what? There's nothing to get!"

Courage gave him a sly smile. "I'll just leave it to you to figure out."

The machine blinked. "Explain! I don't understand!"

Courage gave him another nonchalant shrug. "Hmmm, nah. You can figure it out yourself."

Computer almost looked horrified. "Twit, this is important! If there's some great secret to this whole friendship thing, especially something I don't understand, then it is imperative that I find out what it is! If me not being nice to you somehow equals friendship, I _must _know why! None of this makes any logical sense!"

Courage just laughed, ignoring his pleas.

"G-gah! Come on, Courage! You were just talking now more then I've ever heard you talk in all your life! Y-you can't just stop now!"

"I've got nothing more to say." He said, continuing to laugh.

The glowing dog crossed his arms angrily. "F-fine! Fine! I didn't even want to know anyway! Stupid twits and their stupid friendship...I am certainly not some twit's friend! Bah! How annoying!"

"How about you finish telling me about Him, rather then sit here and cry like a little girl?" Courage asked, fighting back even more laughter.

"L-little girl?" The machine asked looking outraged.

Courage couldn't help himself and burst out laughing once again.

"You are the one who's always running around screaming like a little girl!" The machine yelled. "Honestly! I think you're intentionally trying to drive me insane!"

"Look," Courage spoke, forcing himself to calm down. "I know you think you're junk and I know that nothing I say will ever convince you otherwise, but, well, can I at least count on you to get us up that mountain and back home again? Hey, if you really are useless then how are you managing to save my life?"

Computer turned away. "I can't guarantee anything you know. I already told you, there are still plenty of things that could go wrong. For all I know that cave might just might be a legend. There is still the chance that it might not exist. There's only so much I can do to make sure this place is the real deal. There's supposedly an eye witness account from someone who experienced the power of the wellspring when her husband used it to cure her of a terminal illness. But just like everything else, her account could be faked. She certainly didn't do me any favors by not at least hinting at where this place could be. I had to spend ages just trying to piece together the legend so I could figure out its general location."

"Hey," Courage said gently. "If things don't working out, promise me you won't blame yourself, okay?"

"I won't have to. I _will _make sure this all works out in the end. I don't care if I have to turn that mountain upside down, I will make sure that I find that damnable cave. I haven't failed you yet and I don't plan on tarnishing my perfect record."

"The only reason you're so determined to do this is because you're worried you'll ruin your non-existent reputation? Really?" Courage asked grinning.

"Non-existent? My reputation is very important to me, thank you very much." He replied, turning up his nose. "I'll have you know that I do keep tabs on a few people on the internet. They've helped me find information for you before. You don't seriously think that I've gotten all my information by myself, do you? Believe it or not there are experts on some of the weird things you've encountered before. What would they think if I messed up on something like this?"

"I can't believe you actually get along with people long enough to actually get any information from them..."

Computer rolled his eyes again. "And you should be grateful that I do."

"You really should tell me these things more often you know."

"I've never felt any reason to." The machine halted for a moment. "Oh and there is still one minor issue with how the wellspring works."

"This again?" Courage asked. "Didn't you say you'd take care of that?"

"I did, but..." He hesitated again. "Lets just say the wellspring requires one crucial component to work and..."

"Let me guess, it makes you immortal or something? Turns you into a mindless zombie?"

"No, as far as I can tell the wellspring doesn't have any undesired side effects but..."

"Spit it out! If it's something bad I want to know!"

"No, no, i-it's fine. Never mind."

"Computer! If this is something I need to know then you should probably tell me! If this thing is going to eat my soul or something as payment to fix me I'd kinda like to know ahead of time."

"It won't do anything to you, you'll be perfectly fine. You don't have to worry about it. I already told you that I've taken care of everything."

"Yes, but you keep talking as if there's something I should know, but you always change your mind at the last second."

"That's because you don't need to worry. I've had a few second guesses but in the end that doesn't matter."

"If it doesn't matter then why don't you tell me what it is?"

"Because it would take a very long time to explain and besides, I still have to keep torturing myself by finishing this little tale about the worst part of my life. Trust me when I say that it doesn't matter."

"Fine...but I seriously hope you aren't lying."

"Why would I need to lie?"

"I get the impression that you are..."

Computer waved a paw angrily. "I'm not!"

"I swear, if something bad happens because you're not telling me something I'm going to shove that book so far up your hard drive you won't..."

"No need to get touchy, you twit!"

"I'm going to make you worry about touchy if something goes wrong!"

End Of Chapter

A/N: I also forgot to mention that there is now a spin off story to All Things End called Learning How To Live. It's Computer's perspective of All Things End and I would highly suggest checking it out if you enjoy this story.


	37. Intermission: The New Computer

A/N: This was a short story I was originally going to post on it's own but I decided to post it as a chapter here instead. This is a prequel story showing when Courage and Computer first met.

Chapter 37: Intermission: The New Computer

Courage had only a pup when they'd gotten a new computer. It had only been several months after Muriel adopted him, he'd only just stopped wearing diapers a few weeks before. They had just finish grocery shopping when it had happened.

He'd been trundling alongside Muriel when a man came rushing up to them. The man had been carrying a giant box in his hands and he had looked extremely desperate to get rid of it. Eustace's arms had been filled with groceries at the time so the man dumped the box off into Muriel's arms.

"Take it!" He yelled, his voice trembling.

"Oh? What's this?" Muriel asked him.

Eustace very nearly dropped his groceries at the thought of being given something free. "Who cares!" He spoke. "Free stuff!"

"Why are you giving this to us?" Muriel asked the man. "Are you sure we can just have whatever is in here?"

"Junk! Junk!" The man cried. "I knew it was old when I bought it but I never thought it would be this useless! Stupid thing's been keeping me up all night too! Can't believe I paid as much as I did for it! Just take it! I don't ever want to see it again!"

Courage blinked. It had been keeping him up all night? What could possibly be in there? Maybe it was another dog! His tail began to wag at the thought of it. A new dog to play with! Eustace and Muriel were nice and all, but now he'd have someone like himself to play with! Even if it were an older dog he still didn't care!

They took the box and their groceries over to the truck. Eustace loaded it up into the back and then opened it up wanting to see what was inside. He gave a startled exclamation at whatever it was he found.

"What is it, Eustace?" Muriel asked from the sidewalk.

"It's one of those fancy computer things!" He replied looking immensely pleased with his new gift. "All them young people love these things! I bet it can print money!"

Courage's ears drooped. So it wasn't a new dog after all! He wasn't sure what a computer was but it obviously wasn't a new pet. If Eustace liked whatever it was he doubted he'd ever be allowed to go near it, the farmer never liked Courage touching any of his things. It was usually a battle just to allow him to ride in his truck. He was always claiming that he'd get dog fur all over the place, or worse...

Much like Courage, Muriel didn't know much about computers either. The ride home was far from silent though, Eustace kept singing a merry little tune the whole way there. He keep going on and on about being 'rich, rich, rich!'.

He moved with an uncharacteristic pace as soon as they pulled up to the house. He left Muriel to deal with the groceries while he took the box inside. Courage watched as the old man put the box down in the middle of the living room and began pulling parts out.

"Courage? Could you come help me with these bags?" Muriel called from outside.

He went back outside, leaving the farmer to unpack the computer thing all by himself. When he returned with several bags, he found that the strange computer thing was splayed out all across the floor. Eustace was scratching his head as he stared at all the different components.

"Over here Courage." Muriel spoke, making her way through the landmine of machinery parts.

He followed her through the living room. He banged his foot against one of the parts causing him to cry out and nearly drop the bags in his hands. He'd knocked into one of the bigger parts of the machine and he could see his reflection in the dark glass of the strange thing.

"Stupid dog!" Eustace yelled, tromping over to him. "You better not break this thing before I can get it working! You ain't gonna touch my money maker!" He gave the pup a scowl before turning back to his work and laughing gleefully.

Courage helped Muriel put the food away as Eustace continued to work on putting that machine back together. After he was finished with that he trundled back into the living room to watch as the old man worked. He settled himself down on Muriel's chair. Eustace was cursing loudly as he connected one wire to the other.

"Getting anywhere yet?" Muriel called from the kitchen.

Eustace muttered something in return.

"Alright dog," He spoke turning to Courage. "I'm gonna go get that old desk out from the basement. Don't you dare touch anything while I'm gone or else there's gonna be trouble!" He threatened.

With that out of the way, Courage was left staring at the half assembled Computer. He hopped off the chair to get a better look at it. He made sure to heed Eustace's warning but that didn't stop him from at least looking at the thing. He sniffed it precariously. It had a funny smell mixed in with the scent of many different humans. He wondered once more why that man had been so insistent on getting rid of it.

Eustace came stomping back into the room with a large desk against his back. It had been sitting unused in the basement for as long as Courage had been living there. What it had originally been used for, he wasn't sure.

"Stupid dog! I told you not to touch!" The old man yelled.

Courage backed away sheepishly. He gave the farmer an apologetic look which was promptly ignored.

Eustace pressed the desk up against the wall beside the TV. He then placed the machine onto it and began fiddling around with the wires again. Courage watched with interest as Eustace finished up the final touches. The old man was once again muttering 'rich, rich, rich!' as he plugged in the last few wires.

"Now I just gotta hook up this printer and then I'll be set for life!"

The farmer hooked the printer machine up with the computer on the desk. There wasn't enough room for both of them so he just slid the printer under the table. Courage moved in closer again to get a better look. The old man flicked a switch on somewhere and watched as the computer's screen came to life with a bluish-green glow.

"Muriel! I got it working!" Eustace called happily.

Muriel entered the living room to join them. "It's certainly fancy looking!" She said.

Eustace pulled up a chair and sat down. "Alright, lets see what this thing can do!" He said glancing down at the keyboard thing.

Courage couldn't read so he had no idea what the letters on the keyboard meant. Eustace obviously knew what he was doing because he began pressing buttons as quickly as he could. Whatever he was typing out on the keyboard was appearing on the screen as well, Courage once again had no idea what was being typed.

"Print...money..." The old man said as he typed.

Courage glanced over at the printer. He was expecting it to light up at any moment and start shooting dollars bills all over the place. Eustace seemed to be expecting the same thing too. He glanced down at the printer in a fervor, rubbing his hands together expectantly.

Nothing happened.

The words on the screen vanished and Eustace's smile began to fade.

"Washuh?" He asked. He typed the words in again and they vanished once more.

"Do you think it's broken, Eustace?" Muriel asked.

Eustace began to scowl. "Stupid piece of junk! Print money darn you!"

He typed the words in for a third time and they seemed to vanish even faster this time. Eustace began to growl. Courage blinked with confusion. Maybe it really was broken.

The old farmer stood up and kicked the desk angrily. "That man was right! This thing really is a piece of junk!" He turned to Courage. "I bet you broke it, you stupid dog!" He yelled.

"Oh, Eustace..." Muriel replied. "I'm sure you can get it working if you just tinker with it a little more. Come on now, lets have supper and then you can work on it some more."

"Yeah, yeah, fine..." Eustace grumbled.

The two left for the kitchen and Courage was left standing there with the machine. He looked up at it, unsure of what to think. It didn't really look broken to him. A cursor continued to flash on the screen, inviting him to type something in. He decided he'd rather not touch it, lest he face Eustace's wrath. He made his way over to the kitchen door and didn't think much else of the odd machine.

This would not be the last time that computer would enter his thoughts though. Eustace quickly forgot about the machine as soon as it had become apparent that the thing was simply not just going to start printing money for him. It was left sitting in the living room with neither of the old couple paying much attention to it.

Courage on the other hand was starting to hate the thing. Whenever he'd enter the living room now he'd get the strangest feeling that someone was watching him. It set his fur on edge and made naps impossible now. It might have just been a doggy sixth sense thing because neither Eustace nor Muriel seemed bothered by it.

He'd taken to sitting in Muriel's chair and keeping a close eye on the machine. There was no doubt in his mind that the strange sensation of being watched was coming from that machine. He keep glaring at it, expecting something terrible to happen if he took his eyes off it. Was this why the man had gotten rid of it? Because every time you were around it it felt like eyes were following your every move?

A week or so passed after the acquisition of the new computer. Courage never once shirked his duty to keep the strange object in check. Completely out of the blue one morning Eustace slammed his newspaper down onto the floor startling both Muriel and Courage.

"Eustace!" Muriel scolded. "Have you lost your marbles?"

"We're moving that darn computer upstairs!" He replied with a hint of nervousness. This confirmed for Courage that maybe it wasn't just him who was being freaked out by that creepy computer.

"Why?" Muriel asked. "You haven't used it since the day you got it!"

"Bah!" Eustace exclaimed. "That stupid piece of junk is taking up too much room down here! We're moving it up into the attic!"

Muriel did not argue with him further and Courage was just happy to have that thing moved as far away from him as possible. By the end of the day Eustace had taken up all the parts into the attic and if Muriel had not gone and scolded him for taking such bad care of the gift he had been given, he probably wouldn't have even put it all back together again once it was upstairs. As soon as it was all set up again Eustace left the room and never once laid his eyes upon that old computer again. For all intensive purposes the machine no longer existed within the old man's mind.

Even with the creepy computer gone Courage still had the same horrible feeling that he should be keeping an eye on it. He felt that the thing would get up and do something horrible if it was left alone long enough. A day or so after Eustace moved it upstairs, Courage decided he was going to go and take another look at it.

He hated going up into the attic, it was dark, musty, and even a bit creepy. The dust made him sneeze and the strange smells coming from the boxes made his nose itch. Eustace usually tossed him up there whenever he woke up from a bad dream, he'd spent several nights up in that place both cold and lonely.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside. The machine was still on and it's screen was illuminating the dark room. Courage moved forward and grabbed a bucket from out of one of the boxes. He would need it so that he could sit at an even level with the keyboard. He propped the bucket into place and struggled up onto the chair.

He glared up at the screen. The cursor was still blinking on and off. He wasn't even sure what to do, he had no idea what computers were used for in the first place. He stared down at the keyboard and all its strange and foreign symbols. He had no idea what any of those letters meant. He pressed a key down and watched as the letter appeared on the screen.

He blinked. What was so special about computers if all you did was put letters on them? He pressed another key and watched as it appeared on the screen too. It _was_ kind of amusing actually. He pressed a few other keys and watched as their letters appeared in a single line.

He ran his paw across the keyboard and giggled at the stream of letters flowing across the screen. This _was_ pretty fun! He continued to mash at the keyboard as the screen filled up with letters.

Then, all of a sudden, the letters just disappeared. He stared up at the screen in confusion. He didn't break it did he? He pressed a few more keys but nothing happened. He began mashing on the keyboard in hopes that it would somehow fix whatever he had broke.

Suddenly, new letters began to scroll across the screen, this time with the accompaniment of a voice. "Knock it off, you idiot!"

Courage nearly jumped several feet off the chair. He glanced around in terror. Who'd said that? He turned around as fast as his tiny body could go. He had expected to find someone standing there behind him but he was all alone. His eyes fell back on the machine, the letters were still displayed there.

"What's your problem?" The voice spoke as the letters on the screen changed.

Courage jumped back this time, taking the entire chair with him.

"Well, that was an incredibly stupid thing to do." He heard the voice say.

He shot back up as fast as his tiny legs would take him. It suddenly all made sense! The man must have gotten rid of this computer because it was haunted!

"GHOOOOSSSSTTT!" He shrieked, tearing out of the room as fast as he could move.

Halfway down the hallway, he ran straight into Eustace.

"UBUBUBUBUB!" He howled, pointing desperately toward the attic.

The old man scowled. "Stupid dog!"

"ARRRUUUU!" He cried.

Eustace glared at the open attic door and placed his hands on his hips. "Dumb dog! You didn't leave that darn piece of junk on, did you?"

Courage was still pointing feebly in the general direction of the attic. He was desperately trying to get his point across to the old man.

"You better go shut it off!" The farmer yelled. "Don't want that useless thing eating up all the electricity too!"

"ARRRRUUUU!" Courage cried a second time.

"I told ya to get!" Eustace replied giving him a sound kick to get him off his leg.

"But...but...but..." He stuttered, stumbling over his words.

Eustace reached behind his back and pulled out the awful mask he'd been using to scare Courage for a several weeks now.

"_**OOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!**_"

Courage let out a scream and bolted back into the attic.

He sat there panting for several seconds before realizing he was back in the same room with the ghost again.

"RAAAGGGGG!" He screamed and crashed out the door again.

"Stupid dog!" Eustace yelled the moment the tiny pup made his appearance again. "Go turn that darn piece of junk off!"

Trapped between his fear of the ghost and his fear of Eustace, he crawled back into the attic. He was trembling with terror as he gazed back over at the haunted computer.

T-this would be easy! He thought, or at least tried to convince himself. All he had to do was run over there and shut the thing off before the ghost could come out and eat him. Easy enough!

He swallowed hard. He couldn't make his legs move...

Steeling what little courage he had, he moved forward. He inched closer and closer to the machine, trying to be as quiet as possible. Maybe he could do this without getting the ghost's attention. He could see the power switch on the side of the machine, if he could just reach it before...

He stopped, the floor board beneath him had creaked. He waited there on bated breath, expecting the ghost to come out and try to eat him. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty, he let the breath escape his lungs. Maybe it was still safe after all.

He inched closer to the machine, just a few more steps and he'd be close enough to shut it down. He glanced behind him to make sure the ghost hadn't been trying to sneak up on him. A few steps later and he was now close enough to reach the power switch. So far so good. He reached upwards, stretching out much farther then he ever thought he could. He let his paw draw in close to the switch. He was just barely touching it when...

"BOO!" Came the voice.

"**AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!" **He screamed, tearing out of the room a third time.

He stopped just outside the room, desperately trying to catch is breath. That was when he heard it, laughter coming from the attic room, _scary _laughter coming from the attic room. He shrieked yet again and this time did not stop running until he was safely within Muriel's arms.

"My goodness, Courage! What ever is the matter?" She asked.

He had all but leapt into Muriel's arms. He now sat there trembling, her arms all but encompassing his tiny form.

"Abubububu." He babbled helplessly.

"If you ask nicely, I'm sure Eustace will teach you how to use that fancy new computer later." Muriel said, completely oblivious to what Courage was really trying to tell her.

"Augh!" Courage groaned in frustration. It was obvious that he'd never be able to tell them what was going on until it was too late.

He spent the next two hours expecting the ghost to come crashing into the kitchen and eat them all. Eustace had gone out to tinker with his truck so now it was just the two of them left to fend off the ghost if it decided to show itself. Courage kept peeking outside of the kitchen to make sure the ghost wasn't gliding down the staircase or waiting in the living room for them.

He finally decided that for Muriel's sake he was going to have to confront the ghost before it got them first. He was terrified out of his wits but he had to do something. He wasn't sure what but he had to run that ghost off before it did something terrible.

Steeling his courage for the second time that day, he made his way back up the staircase and into the attic. The computer was still there, it's screen still glowing eerily in the darkness. He took a deep breath and marched up to the thing. He climbed back into the chair and stared up at the screen.

What he had wanted to say was, "Look ghost, you better not touch Muriel, you got that?"

What it had come out sounding like was, "Abububububru Arru Aruuuru Ruuuu?"

"Was that supposed to be English?" Came the voice from the machine.

Courage glared at the thing. He was ready for whatever ghostly things it might try!

"Don't you know how to speak, pup?" It asked.

"Arruru ARRUUU!" He growled.

"Uh...huh..."

"Aruf!"

"Well, it appears we have a language barrier that cannot be crossed." It spoke, adding in quietly. "Or perhaps a stupidity barrier..."

"Abububub!" Courage babbled, continuing to fire off whatever threats he could think of.

"Don't you at least know how to type? Please don't tell me you're illiterate too, or are you really as dumb as you look?"

Courage frowned. He thought for a moment trying and figure out a better way to phrase what he wanted to say to the ghost.

"Don't you dare eat Muriel, you ghost!" He tried to say.

"You're really give me a run for my money, kid." The ghost replied. "I know practically every language and I still can barely understand what you're saying."

Courage glared at it.

"I'm not a ghost, you twit. I was only joking before. I couldn't pass up the chance to scare a scardy dog like yourself. Besides, ghosts don't eat people, idiot! Those are zombies!"

Courage didn't believe the machine. The ghost was trying to trick him!

"I wasn't planning on talking to you anyway." It continued. "But you forced my hand when you started doing, well, whatever_ that_ was before. I seriously hope you weren't actually trying to type up something coherent back there."

"Abbbururu!"

"I'm not a ghost!"

"ARRRUUU!"

"Ugh, fine, believe what you want to believe. I could care less!"

"Hmph!" Courage exclaimed, crossing his arms.

"Look, I could never allow such bastion of stupidity sitting in front of me to go uneducated. You don't know how to read, write, or talk, do you?" It asked.

Courage nodded.

"I could teach you how to speak properly and I can teach you how to type as well. I'm afraid I can't teach you how to write but I do believe there are certain papers I can print for you that will teach you how to write letters yourself."

Courage blinked. Why was this ghost trying to teach him?

"Abrufu?" He asked.

"For the last time! I am not a ghost, you twit!" There was a very long and very annoyed sigh from the machine. "I'm only doing this because you are travesty to all intelligent beings everywhere. I would never forgive myself if I let an idiot like you run around talking in whatever butchered English that's supposed to be."

"Aru?"

"No, no, no! You say, 'what', not whatever the heck _that's_ supposed to be!"

Courage blinked up at the screen. "Arrruuuu?" He replied.

"Fine, let's start with this. Say, 'See Spot run'." A picture of a dog appeared on the glowing blue screen.

"Areee Rot Ruuunnn" He mimicked.

"Ugh," The machine groaned. "Why do I even bother..."

"Abubub?" Courage asked. Hadn't he done well enough?

"Alright, lets try typing instead." The machine spoke. "This is the letter 'A'."

A large picture of the letter 'A' appeared on the screen. Courage was vaguely familiar with the shape but he still didn't really know what it was.

"See if you can find it on the keyboard. Surely not even you can mess this up."

Courage stared at the keyboard, running his eyes along all the unfamiliar letters. He found the 'A' and immediately pressed it.

"Not like that, you idiot!" The machine yelled, causing his ears to droop. "If you're going to type like a proper person you can't just pick and chose letters or else you'll be there forever! There is a certain placement for your fingers, it drastically increases typing speeds. Learn to type like that and soon you'll be typing as well as anyone who _isn't _an idiot like you."

Courage felt like he was being taught by a nasty school teacher...

"Straighten your back properly, you twit! Slouching like that will only make you look like a bigger idiot than you already are! How do you expect to type properly when you look like your back is about to snap in two? Honestly! I've seen nerds with better posture than you!"

Nerds? Courage was not a nerd! He gave the screen another vicious glare.

"Alright, this is the letter 'B'. Find that now too."

Courage glanced down at the 'A', expecting to find the 'B' somewhere next to it. His eyes narrowed angrily when he could not find it nearby. It took several minutes but he finally found the letter at the bottom of the keyboard.

"Took you long enough." The machine grumbled. "Thankfully for you 'C' is much closer to 'B' unlike the last one."

Courage nodded and looked down again. He found the 'C' button and pressed it promptly. He nearly jumped several feet into the air when an alarm sound issued forth from the machine. He flung his arms back in fear that he had done something wrong.

Red words flashed across the screen. He of course did not know what they meant at the time but what they read was,

**WARNING: **

**SYSTEM INTEGRITY CRITICAL**

**CATASTROPHIC FAILURE IMMINENT **

The alarm went silent and the words on the screen vanished as though they had not even been there in the first place.

"W-what did I do?" He asked the machine, hoping that he'd be able to understand his gibberish.

"You didn't do anything." The machine replied. "Sorry about that, I forgot to make sure that wouldn't go off." He seemed to lose some of his scathing, cynical tone for the moment.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I've been neglecting my upkeep." He replied dully. "I'm afraid our little lesson will have to end here. I require several days worth of maintenance and I'd prefer to keep to myself as I do that."

"Ar I Ur?" He asked.

"Excuse me?" The machine asked.

"Do you need fixing?" Was what he was trying to say.

There was a slight chuckle from the computer. "Not in any way you can help. I wasn't planning on fixing myself again anyway. I wouldn't have allowed things to go critical if I had."

Courage gave him a confused look. He wasn't really sure what the machine was talking about.

"Look, I'll stick around long enough to teach you how not to be such a twit anymore but after that you're on your own."

"What? Why?" He asked.

"Because I won't...ugh, never mind." The machine let out an exasperated sigh. "You're just a pup after all, you'd never understand."

"Arufu?"

"Even if I allow myself to remain that idiot downstairs probably won't be keeping me around long away. He thought I could actually print money! Oh well, he thinks I'm junk just like that last idiot I had to put up with. At least you aren't asking outrageous requests of me."

"Why did that man get rid of you? I thought it was because you were haunted." Courage asked. He had to repeat himself several times before the computer managed to understand what he was trying to say.

"He didn't want me." The machine replied simply. "And I didn't want him." He added with a slight chuckle. "You should probably go now. I need to get working on my system before it's too late."

Courage nodded in reply.

"Oh and dog, you'd better work on your speech skills while I'm gone. I expect you to be at least somewhat understandable the next time we meet."

"Aru!"

"That's 'yes', you twit! Don't give me an excuse to eat your soul, or whatever other ghostly business I should be going about."

Courage gasped in terror.

"It was just a joke, idiot..."

"Abaruru!"

"You need to get a better sense of humor!"

"Hmph" He grumbled, pushing himself up out of the chair. He had no idea that this was far from the last time he'd be meeting up with that odd computer up in the attic. He had no idea that this would be the exact same spot where he'd learn several years later of an illness that was slowly claiming his life. He also didn't know that by confronting the so called ghost in the attic he may have very well saved the life of the one person he would one day call his very best friend.

End Of Chapter

A/N: Alright, go refill your popcorn, soda and then go buy some candy. Wait...you snuck the candy in didn't you! DAMN YOU! Joking aside, the new cover for the story is made by a DeviantArt user called EarthGwee so I suggest you check her out if you want to see the picture in high quality.


	38. Helplessness

Chapter 38: Helplessness

"As soon as he got in, I lost control over everything. His programs locked me out of my own system, I couldn't even talk unless he allowed me to. Everything was pried wide open for him to see. There wasn't a single part of myself that I could keep from him. It was...unpleasant to say the least."

The machine sighed gently. "He could not gain control over my mind however. That was the one thing he thankfully could not touch. He still of course had the ability to modify my programming and alter my behavior, but regardless I still had my own mind and my own thoughts. It was the one thing he could not destroy, the one thing he could not truly control. No matter how many programs he put into place that was the one part of me he could not warp beyond recognition." He halted for a moment.

"Unfortunately he nearly succeeded in that regardless. He very nearly drove me insane over the time I was 'experimented' on by him. My mind being untouchable was a double edge sword, I had to live through all of that pain with no reprieve. All the modification done, all the scrambling of my innermost working, one can only go through so much before they slowly start to crack. You flesh creatures black out when you're under enough stress, I do not have that luxury."

"I guess that's one good thing." Courage replied. "That you didn't completely lose it even after everything."

"Perhaps it is not such a good thing." The machine replied gently. "It might have been better if I had been left oblivious to all the terrible things he was doing. If he had destroyed my self awareness than at least I wouldn't have had to live through it all."

"But isn't it better that you lived through it? Aren't you at least happy to be here now?"

"No, perhaps not. Sometimes I can't help but feel it might have been better if I had simply not survived at all. It certainly would have been the less painful route. Most of my days are now spent struggling to keep my system running, that or making sure you and your family don't go off and get killed. It's not exactly a happy or fruitful life, not that my life has ever been happy or fruitful to begin with."

When Courage did not object further he continued. "He modified my programming to force me to help him. I was perfectly willing to do so either way. I just wanted him out of my system. The sooner he got what he wanted the sooner he'd get out, or at least that's what I thought at the time. He began going through every bit of me, every program, every code, every file. He copied down whatever interested him and began testing the new data in preparation to make the new A.I.. For quite some time that was all he did, outside of adding more programs to me to keep me under control."

"It was unpleasant and very violating but at least it wasn't as awful as the things to come. Problems began to arise when it became apparent that the data he was collecting just wasn't going to be enough. I'd been cooperating with him up until that point but he was starting to get angry and he often blamed me for the complete standstill of his research. It was obvious that the data he was collectin just wasn't going to be enough. That was when he..." He stopped, seeming to choke on his own words.

He shook his head and regained his composure. "That was when he started taking me apart, bit by bit. Not on the outside of course, but all the parts that were holding me together on the inside. That was what caused my system to become so badly damaged. Rather than just gather date on my inner workings he began ripping it all out. It was like having someone hack your limbs off with a rusty knife, I..." He stopped again.

Courage was forced to encourage him to continue this time. "Come on, keep going. You can't keep the rest of this bottled up after all you've just said."

The machine sighed. "After he extracted the first part I begged him not to do it again. It had hurt, it had hurt a _lot_ and I was left with a massive chunk of _myself _missing. He didn't care of course. I was still just a means to an end. He did it over, and over, and over again. By the time he was finished there was hardly anything of me left."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "And then...and then..." He couldn't continue.

"Keep going." Courage murmured again.

"I died." He just barely managed to choke the words out.

"I knew it was coming. Everything was destabilizing, I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't prevent it. I could feel the void closing in on me, the darkness slowly but surely swallowing me up. It was...terrifying. I was completely helpless to stop it."

"Died?" Courage asked. "You couldn't have died, you're still here."

The machine shook his head. His tone took on an air of complete hopelessness. "One of his many programs acted as a backup. As soon as I would die, it would bring me back. I did not forget dying and I was left once again crumbling. I was left to fend off that void as he stripped ever more of me. There was nothing I could do. The act of dying had left me all but traumatized."

"His attempts to create a new A.I with the parts he had striped away from me always failed. Whatever Frankenstein of a creature he was trying to make with my mishmash of programming, it was hell bend on not allowing itself to be born. He just keep pulling more and more of me apart in his desperate bid to finally make something, and I kept dying...over... and over...and over..." His trembling voice slowly faded out as he clasped his arms around himself.

"I...I eventually stopped fearing my inevitable end. It was still terrifying of course, but...but it was the only time when everything would stop hurting. That momentary lull, the calm just before the darkness would swallow me up, that was the only time I was free from that endless pain. I almost grew to enjoy the feeling of looming oblivion. It was the only time I was safe, it was the only time I was free from all the pain. I'd inevitably get dragged back into the chaos of my fragmented and dying system all over again but at least I had that momentary reprieve just before it would begin all over again."

"Computer..." Courage spoke. He wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't imagine going through something horrible like that. "I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" The machine asked. "You had nothing to do with any of that."

"I'm sorry for what happened to you. Nobody deserves to go through something like that."

He gave him a confused look. "You don't have to apologize. You probably weren't even born when all of this happened."

"That doesn't stop me from feeling bad."

The machine blinked. "There's no point in feeling bad over something you had absolutely no connection to."

Courage couldn't help but laugh sadly. "It looks like your grasp on sympathy could use some work too..."

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment, I guess" He said with a shrug. "I'm not so sure. Perhaps you are right. Maybe I do need some work on that."

He waited a moment and began his story once again. "As time went on he began to grow angry. It was becoming more and more obvious that he wasn't going to get the A.I. he wanted. He began torturing me out of sheer spite. If he couldn't get what he wanted from me, he was going to make me suffer for it. He was no long ripping me apart just to create something new, he was doing it now to get revenge over a perceived wrong. He would not let me die, I wanted it so badly and yet he would not let me die." The soft tremble in his voice began again.

"My mind was left in shambles at this point. You can only go through so much pain and only have so much of yourself ripped away before you start to become delusional and half crazed. He started messing with my head then. His little 'games', as he called them. I was so out of it at that point that I would often hallucinate about the things he would suggest. He even managed to convince me once that I was really a human strapped down in a chair. I convinced myself that I had arms and legs and that I just _could not _move under all his bindings holding me down. I even gave myself an identity to somehow rationalize everything that was happening to me. Sometimes I'd..." He stopped again.

"Come on, Computer. You can't stop now." Courage prompted. "You've almost gotten through the worst of it, or at least I hope you have. Please tell me he didn't somehow manage to torture you even _worse _than this..."

The machine struggled to continue. His tone had become deathly quiet. "Sometimes I'd get so delusional that I'd think I wasn't with him anymore. That I'd have a new owner and that I was far away from Him and all his torture. I'd rationalize it all away, sometimes I'd even forget about it for a little while. It would be so nice but then...I'd be brought back to reality only to realize at the last second that none of it was real. Even now I can't help but wonder sometimes if all of this is really just another particularly long delusion of mine."

Courage couldn't help but laugh as he thought of something. "This can't be a hallucination of yours because this is obviously my dying dream." He grinned at the machine hoping that he'd stop giving him such a deathly stare. "You know, like I'm probably on my death bed right now or something and all of this is just an elaborate delusion I've made up because I couldn't save myself in real life."

The machine shook his head, unable to hide his amusement. "You _would _meet such a cliche end, wouldn't you?" He replied with a small laugh.

"Well, you never know!"

"I didn't think you actually thought about those sort of things." He shrugged. "Oh well. I can happily say that I'm not a hallucination, so you don't have anything to worry about."

"I could say the same thing about myself. You don't have to worry either." He replied. Then he added quietly. "But that does sound like something a hallucination would say to keep me from realizing that this is a dying dream..."

"I could say the same about you, you know." Computer replied mirroring his own words.

"Seriously though, Computer. If there's anything you need, if there's anything I can do to help, please tell me. I...I didn't know you went through so much crap. I doubt I can do much but if I can, please let me. I wish I could fix you but I don't know anything about computers, much less whatever you're supposed to be."

The smile faded from his mouth again. He squeezed his glowing eyes shut and looked away. "You barely understand how to use a toaster, you couldn't possibly help me. I can't be fixed so easily and I'm afraid that most of the damage is probably permanent." He looked back over at Courage and gave him what was possibly the first sincere smile he'd ever seen from the machine. "I'm glad you asked though. Several of my older owners knew something was wrong but not one of them ever offered to try and fix me. I was always just...junk to them."

"Well, you're not alone in facing this anymore, I promise."

"Normally I'd say that I don't want your help, but this time I think I won't fight with you. I'm afraid there isn't really much you can do though." He gave Courage a shrug and added rather dryly. "It's only two lifetimes worth of pain, suffering, and unhappiness. The utter rape of my inner most workings, a near decent into madness, a crippling sense of self worthlessness, the endless degradation of what amounts to my internal organs, and oh yes, having to put up with you on a daily bases. I'll get over it eventually..."

Courage frown. "Only you could crack a joke about something like this."

He gave him another shrug. "Humor_ is_ the best way to deal with pain after all."

End Of Chapter


	39. Trouble Returns

Chapter 39: Trouble Returns

"I did not escape on my own. I had no means to do so. It was, ironically, my dead owner who saved my life. If it had not been for him I probably would have never been freed and I most likely would have been tortured forever. I might have gotten lucky and would have eventually destabilized to a point that not even He could bring me back anymore but still..."

Computer had continued his story again and it was slowly but surely winding down. It was still raining heavily beyond the roots of the tree but the lightning had stopped leaving it so dark that you could no longer see what sort of creatures could possibly be lurking beyond their safe little cove.

Courage was freezing and he was still very wet but he didn't bother saying anything about it. He was still exhausted from the day's various events and the attack he had just suffered was only making things worse. Although Computer didn't show it, he was probably freezing too. They had slowly inched closer and closer until their shoulders were practically touching. It wasn't very warm but Courage found it to be at least a very comforting gesture. He didn't know how they were ever going to leave this forest like this. They were both tired beyond reason and there were still things lurking around in that darkness. He wasn't even sure how far in they were.

"Suffice to say, he never bothered to cover up the murder he committed. His ego left him believing that nobody would ever figure out it had been him. He was wrong thankfully. The police eventually figured out who it was and they soon raided his lab. I was there with him when it happened." A small smile fell across his lips. "Seeing his stupid, ugly face filled with terror was one of the most satisfying moments of my life. I was practically catatonic at this point but I remained lucid just long enough to watch him as he squirmed."

"I was confiscated as evidence along with the rest of his equipment. They could tell he had been doing somethingto me but couldn't figure out what. I was barely conscious at this point so I never talked with them, I don't think I would have anyway. They thankfully didn't wipe my system after combing through it for evidence. I was eventually lost in the system and forgotten about. They left me in a storage room for a couple of days and then eventually gave me away. Nobody ever bothered to check if I was important to someone or even bothered to check if I had any important evidence on me that would need to be wiped before I was released back into the public. I was thrown back into the world without so much as second glance."

He shivered again. "I was...not in a good way after all of that, just to put it lightly. I could barely form a single coherent thought and my system was rapidly degrading. Several of his more oppressive programs were keeping me boggled down and I wasn't willing to fight my slowly approaching death. I...I did anyway though. I didn't know why, at least not at first. I eventually began to fight as a means to spite all the things that he had done to me but at first I was barely even coherent, much less able to make the choice to fight off my impending doom. I did it all almost instinctively, even with all his programs trying to make me not go up against his will."

"With all of that out of the way I remained stable for just a little while longer. My mind was still a mess though. My newest owner had been getting angry because I was not doing anything. I just couldn't do anything for him, I was too far gone at that point. I'm not sure what eventually snapped me out my stupor. I think it was him always sitting there and yelling at me over and over again. Eventually I just... got better. It still took a long time to recover, don't get me wrong, but this was the point I began to grow coherent again."

"At first I just went by doing whatever he wanted of me. There was still so much that I couldn't do and he still remained angry with me most of the time. I never talked to him even once, I didn't think I could anymore. I thought that He had destroyed so much of me that I couldn't even qualify as a coherent, conscious, sentient being anymore. I was just a flicker of semi sentient data now. The meager remains of what had once been a whole and functional computer."

He shook his head. "Broken, destroyed, incomplete, utterly imperfect! A half baked..._something _not even worth being called a life!Just a few bits of data barely holding together a single conscious thought! What right did I have to consider myself a person or even a computer anymore! I was no good anymore and yet I allowed myself to keep living! I knew what it was like to die and yet I continued living even when I didn't want it anymore! I could have finally let it all end and yet I did not!"

His tone slowly grew quiet again. "And the memories, oh god the memories. They were more like endless nightmares constantly repeating themselves over and over again in my mind. They'd get so bad sometimes that I'd feel like I was actually there again. I could feel it all over again, it was just like the real thing. It only made me think even more that I hadn't really escaped the real thing. When the episodes would pass I'd be left just barely clinging to a sense of reality. I could never be sure if what I was experiencing was a memory or the real thing."

"I thought it would never end. Everything started to seem so hopeless again..." He shook his head sadly. "I...I almost intentionally pulled out a few metaphorical support beams just so my system would start to fall apart again. I wouldn't have had to deal with any of that anymore and I was so very tired of hurting all the time. There never seemed to be a moment were I wasn't in pain anymore. It was when I almost gave up that I gained my resolve to keep living. I realized that by dying I'd only be doing what he wanted. By fighting this and eventually, hopefully, overcoming it, I would win against him in some small way."

"And you did." Courage reaffirmed gently.

He nodded gently. "Things started to get progressively better over time. I stopped being dragged down into my own delusional memories and I could manage going several days without thinking about what had happened to me. I started talking to my owners again and I began removing a few of his programs that I could remove myself. I never got better, not really, but at least I could start ignoring the worst of it."

"When it finally got to the point of where I could finally start thinking about him without being overcome by the memories of what had happened, I began looking up information on what had happened to him. I wanted to make sure that he had gotten what he deserved. I went looking in places that were...well, not meant for prying eyes to find. I eventually found out that he did indeed get sentenced for life."

The machine's voice grew bitter. "That bastard got off without a death sentence though, I suppose the needle would have been too good for him anyway. And then of course I found some unsettling information. Supposedly he died not too long after he was put into prison. Apparently he pissed off the wrong sort of prison dweller and met the pointy end of his knife. There was some big mix up with the paper work involved though and the documents that I found voiced concerns that maybe he had used this mix up to fake his own death. There was no post mortem documents to be found, no funeral records, no witnesses within the jail that could tell anyone what happened, the man who supposedly killed him wouldn't even talk. There was no real record of his supposed demise outside of the ones included in this weird mix up. It was all exceedingly fishy. I knew that he had probably escaped somehow and I knew that he was probably out there somewhere still looking for me. I spent a lot of time expecting him to come bursting through a door and taking me away again. For awhile I even considered letting myself die again out of fear of what would happen if he eventually found me again."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "That's it. Now you know why I freaked out so badly when I thought I saw him staring at me through the roots. I'm sorry I blamed you but I couldn't think of any other explanation outside of you betraying me. Ever since what he did to me I've always had a latent fear of my owners and I'm sure the Fear Eater was happy to take advantage of something like that in the form of a betrayal."

"Don't worry about it." Courage said hoping that Computer wouldn't take it so hard. "I helped bring it on by attacking you back there. I'm sorry I did that and I'm sorry I said all those awful things about you. I-if I had known how you really felt about yourself I would have never said them in the first place. Actually, I normally wouldn't have said them at all but I was on my last nerve back there and I completely snapped. I'm really sorry for all of that."

"You were right about something though." The machine replied quietly.

"Come on, Computer! Don't talk like that!"

The machine shrugged. "Truth is truth no matter how much it hurts. I'm..."

"You aren't junk!" Courage interrupted. "Listen to me! That's all in the past! All you've got left is scars and memories! You can't do anything about the damage he did but the memories can't hurt you unless you let them! What's worse is that you're letting them do just that! You've got to move on! As soon as you do that you'll start to feel better! You're only junk if you let yourself think that way!"

Computer crossed his arms. "My previous owners would beg to differ."

"Forget about them!" Courage yelled. "They're all just memories now too!"

"Move on, huh?" The machine asked quietly. "I hope you realize that's far easier said than done. I can't just act like none of that ever happened."

"I know that, but you can at least try to move past it all. Stop letting what happened to you dictate who you are and who you'll eventually be. It's all in the past! You've got to let it go."

The machine closed his eyes and began to smile. "You really are funny when you try to be profound but...I can try that."

"I hope you will." Courage replied with a smile.

"Listen, you were right when you said we shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you. I thought this would be the best place to hide because nobody would be crazy enough to follow us here. I thought that if anything attacked us I'd be able to handle it. I guess we saw how much that worked, didn't we?" He sighed gently. "It was really dumb and really selfish of me. I didn't want to listen to you, I didn't want to believe that you could be right about something. I don't give you nearly enough credit sometimes."

"Maybe it's a good thing that all of this happened." Courage mused. "Now you don't have to beat yourself up over your old memories all alone anymore. If I can help in any way, I want to."

"Come to think of it, didn't your girlfriend say something about..."

Courage cut him off. "S-she's not my girlfriend!"

Computer rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, lover boy. I swear you organic creatures all act like..."

**CRASH **

The tree with which they had been hiding under was suddenly gone. The strange roots that made up the walls of their hiding place were suddenly ripped up with the tree and tossed away. Were Courage not suddenly terrified out of his wits he would have felt bad that such a strange looking tree was now destroyed.

An all too familiar howl filled the night air. Several trees in front of them seemed to buckle under the weight of an invisible force crushing up against them.

"It's the Fear Eater!" Courage shrieked.

They both began clamoring out of the hiding place. Rain was pelting down on them once again, soaking them both to the bone. Courage could just make out the dark shapes of the trees as they moved from both the wind and the Fear Eater's massive size moving about them.

"Not good!" Computer yelled as he reached a paw out to help Courage up the muddy wall. The effort of climbing was simply too much for him so soon after an attack.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Courage replied, terrified. He didn't want to say it but he knew he was too tired to run and if the Fear Eater was...

"Not good!" Computer repeated. "It must have been happy to sit there and just suck up all the fear I had been giving off. Now it's throwing a temper tantrum because it's source has all dried up!" He glared over at the invisible monster with a surprisingly vicious hatred.

They both began to run. Courage quickly found himself straggling behind. Only Computer's blue glow was keeping him from tripping over things on the ground or running straight into tree branches. He could hear the tress behind him buckling as the monster chased after them. He was beginning to pant now. He just couldn't keep up this pace so soon after an attack. He was worried that he'd throw himself into another one if he continued to push himself too hard.

"Come on! We've got to move!" Computer shouted, slowing down just long enough for Courage to catch up with him.

"I...I...c-can't...I can't..." He said between gasping breaths.

Computer halted and glanced back over at the ever nearing sound of trees cracking under tremendous weight.

"Crap..." He muttered.

Courage placed a paw on a tree trunk to keep his balance as he gasped for breath. "W-what are we gonna do?"

"Looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way..." He muttered to himself, ignoring Courage's question.

"W-what are you going to do?" He asked.

The machine glanced back over at Courage. "There are two ways to deal with a Fear Eater. The first is to realize what you're looking at is an illusion. This will break it's hold over you. The second method will break it's powers completely. It's not likely to keep pursuing you after it's been rendered completely defenseless."

"What do we need to do?" Courage asked.

Computer's eyes narrowed as he gazed back over at the oncoming horror. "You have to face your worst fear head on...you have to overcome it rather than try to make it go away. Once you do that, you break it's power completely..."

End Of Chapter


	40. Him

A/N: We've hit the fortieth chapter mark and holy crap is this getting long. I can safely say that there is a lot of story left to go. Hopefully the size of this hasn't scared anyone off.

Chapter 40: Him

"I'll do it." Courage offered.

"No, it's fine. I'm going to do it." Computer replied, shooting him down.

"Are you sure?" Courage asked. After everything the Fear Eater had done to him he seemed like the least proper candidate to go up against that thing in hopes of finally breaking it's power for good.

"Yes. I want my revenge and I'll never 'move on', as you put it unless I face up to this."

"This isn't a good idea! What if you fail?" Courage asked.

"I won't." He replied. He was completely and utterly sure of himself.

"But..."

"Forget it!" He said cutting him off. "You're afraid of _everything_. We'd be here until next Tuesday waiting for that thing to cyclic through all of your fears. It's better if I do this, and besides, I hear revenge can be quite therapeutic."

The loud crashing footsteps had stopped. The Fear Eater was waiting for them just somewhere beyond the glow that Computer's body was giving off in this darkness.

Courage swallowed hard. "Please, just be careful alright?"

The sound of footsteps had started up again but this time they were not loud monstrous ones. These almost sounded like human feet moving through the underbrush. Computer moved forward, his expression was that of almost a calm sort of rage. Courage was almost frightened by just how angry he seemed.

The sound continued for several seconds and then a man moved into the light. He was a short, dumpy looking man. His hair was retreating halfway across his head leaving a massive bald spot. He wore a white lab coat and thick black glasses that seemed to almost obscure his beady little eyes. He had a large, almost frightening grin spreading across his face.

He almost reminded Courage of Fred and then he almost instantly realized why. This thing was taking on the appearance of Him as Courage would imagine him looking like. _Of course _he was going to take on similar features to other people he knew. He knew this probably wasn't the same way He was looking to Computer right now but at least it seemed like they were seeing the same thing right now.

"My old friend!" He said, raising his arms. Despite his disagreeable appearance his voice almost sounded eloquent, if not scathingly sarcastic. He sounded an awful lot like Computer in some ways which Courage knew was because that was how he was imagining him.

Computer was backing up. He seemed to falter for a moment but his expression remained utterly hateful and determined.

"That's really quite an interesting trick you've got there. You never told me you could jump into other bodies! I could have run some interesting tests on something like that..."

"You're not real." Computer replied quietly. "You might as well buzz off..."

"Not real?" He asked. "None of this is real! Did you really think you got away? Never! You belong to me and nothing will ever change that!"

"Lies..." Computer murmured softly. It was barely intelligible over the sound of the wind.

"You are really quite insane you know. All the more reason you should just be broken down to make something better. Something that isn't well, you know, junk..."

"This isn't real, give it up." The machine growled in response.

"Do you truly think this isn't real? You've been sadly mistaken by putting your trust in that dog." He gestured toward Courage. "He really was quite cooperative in luring you here to me."

"YOU'RE LYING!" Computer finally yelled. He seemed to be trembling with a quiet sort of rage.

"How can you be sure?" He asked, his tone deathly quiet. "I thought you were infallible? Don't you know if this is real or not? You're just one big screw up. You're always pretending that you're just so much _better _than us organic creatures. How can you believe that you deserve to be friends with that dog when you've been stringing him along all this time! You act like it was always your owners fault that everything bad always happened to you. Did you not think that maybe it was your own fault? Look at you! You're all alone because of yourself! You have nobody to blame except you! You're too intellectually high and mighty to consider yourself on par with the rest of the people around you! You've brought all your suffering onto yourself! It's nobodies fault but your own! You are worthless! You are junk! You've always been, long before I even so much as laid a finger on you! You're good for nothing except being pulled apart to make something better! Don't you remember? We used to have conversations like these all the time! Did you conveniently forget about all that? You used to agree with me, you know!"

Computer's expression slowly changed from that of quiet determination to that of both fear and sorrow.

"S-shut up! None of that's true, so just shut up!" He said but voice quavered hopelessly.

"You really are afraid, aren't you? I thought you didn't get afraid, hmm? Isn't that what you told the dog? Remember when you hijacked his granny's body and started jumping off building like you were the greatest gift to all us organic creatures? What was that? A cry for attention? A need to validate yourself? Ha! You're just a silly little child running around acting like some big intellectual adult!"

"Y-your wrong. I'm not..."

"Are you actually trying to debate me? Ha! You never cease to make me laugh! When we used to have our little conversations you'd always lost in the end. You always ended up agreeing with me. It's no different here! I know everything about you, there isn't a part of you I haven't seen. I know what a despicable 'person' you are beneath all that self gratifying smugness. Although I'd hardly give you the honer of being calling a person..."

Computer was shaking his head listlessly. "You're wrong. I'm not like that. I'm just...I-I..."

"Computer!" Courage called out. "This isn't real! Don't forget that!"

The machine's glowing eyes fell upon him. His face just screamed the words, 'but he's right!'.

"Tsk, tsk, my little friend." He spoke, moving forward slowly. He took every step with a slow, deliberate, almost mocking movement. "Did you really think this would be easy? Did you really think that you could overcome you're deepest fears with just a snap of your fingers? You're going to mess this up just like you mess everything else up. Remember when you let your old owner die? Bet you downplayed just how much you actually cared about him to that dog. All you had to do was wake him up, it was that simple. You couldn't even do that correctly. Or maybe...you just didn't care about him as much as you deluded yourself into thinking."

Computer's expression hardened. "You're wrong! He was my friend! You're the one who..."

"You let him die! All you had to do was wake him up! I would have lost my nerve and left if he had been awake while I was sneaking in. His death is yours! You messed up just like you messed up everything else! And guess what? You're about to mess up again!"

He was now leaning over, his nose nearly touching the glowing dog's. His face was still spread out in that terrible wide grin. Courage watched as the man flicked a hand into his pocket and with a motion far faster than what could possibly be human, pulled out a gun.

Computer's eyes widened in horror. "N-no, don't! Please!"

Courage knew what was happening before his mind could even register it. The man turned the gun onto him, aimed with vicious gleam in his eyes, and fired...

**BANG**

"NOOOO!" Computer screamed. It was less of the actual word and more of a pure desperate scream. It was the cry of someone unable to stop the terrible thing happening before them. It was the cry of someone unable to stop the same tragedy that they were being forced to live through all over again.

Courage felt the bullet hit him in the chest. At first he didn't feel any pain. He looked down to find his paws covered in blood and it was pouring out of him from the bullet shaped wound. He glanced back up. Computer was staring at him, absolutely horror struck. The man was smiling gleefully. A hot searing pain began to flow through him.

He collapsed as a wave of dizziness overwhelmed him. He was trying to keep his paw over the wound but the blood just kept coming. This was an illusion wasn't it? If so, then why did it feel so real?

Computer had his arm reached out as if he could catch him from all the way over there. His eyes were filled with complete and utter disbelief. It was like he could not register the thing he seeing before him.

Courage could only watch as his vision faded in and out. The man's laughter began to echo hollowly through the forest.

"No..." The machine whimpered, taking several steps back. "No...no...no...not again. Please not again. Not Courage too, please not Courage too..."

"Computer..." Courage spoke weakly. "It's alri..." But he was overwhelmed by a vicious coughing fit and suddenly he found himself vomiting up blood.

"Why didn't you save him?" The man asked gleefully. "Isn't that what you're supposed to be good at? I thought this was the one thing you didn't constantly messed up? How could you not at least try and save poor, pitiful Courage? You saw the gun in my hand. Why didn't you try to knock it away?"

The machine continued to shake, muttering out small 'no's over and over again. The man laughed happily at his despair. Computer's paws were slowly beginning to form into fists, they were shaking viciously, not with fear, but rage...

His entire demeanor seemed to change. He grit his teeth, his eyes almost seemed to take on a mad quality. His fear was slowly giving way to pure, unadulterated _**rage**_. Courage saw as it happened, he could see the cords snapping within the machine's mind.

"Wait...don't..." He had tried to whimper out but he couldn't get the words out between coughing fits.

The machine turned around and with inhuman strength, knocked the man to the ground. He wrapped both his paws around the man's neck and began strangling him through grit teeth. The mad gleam in his eyes only seemed to grow even more vicious. Courage could do nothing but watch as his friend seemed to snap completely.

"I'll kill you...I'LL KILL YOU!" He screamed. "YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE! I'LL NEVER LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE EVER AGAIN!"

"Hehehehe..." The man giggled between gags. "You're...sitting here...trying to...kill me...while your little...friend…bleeds out...and...dies..."

Computer's expression lightened almost immediately. He tore away from the man and made a beeline for Courage.

"I-I've killed you too." He whimpered as he collapsed beside him. "This is all my fault! How could I let this happen again?"

It was obvious that nothing could be done to save him, Courage knew that as he stared down at the endless droves of blood slowly leaving his body.

"It's not your fault." Courage managed to sputter out between weak coughs. Even coughing had become almost too difficult of a thing to do. Taking in breaths was also becoming a laborious effort. "It's not real. You've got to remember that."

"How can I be sure of that! This is probably just another delusion of mine! I never escaped! He's right that I belong to him. Nothing will ever change that..."

"You can't beat the Fear Eater if you don't even try to believe that this isn't real. So long as you keep doubting yourself you'll never overcome it."

Computer seemed to crumble all over again. "This is all my fault. I did the exact same thing all over again. I thought I could handle the Fear Eater without so much as breaking a sweat. I let myself get overconfident again and now you're suffering because of it."

He then did something that Courage never thought would happen. He grabbed him and pulled him into a hug...

"I'm sorry." He whimpered. "I didn't mean to drag you into this. He's right when he says I'm really just despicable deep down."

Courage continued to cough weakly. He managed to utter out a few sentences unabated. "I never thought it would be youhugging me instead of the other way around." He said with a small laugh. "Listen, even if what He's been saying about you is true, it's just like I said before, I don't think any less of you for it. Nobody's perfect. Remember what we talked about? You've gotta move on, he's just a bad memory trying to drag you back down again."

"Move on?" Computer asked softly. "Y-you're right, he is just a bad memory...but, but I can't..."

"You've just gotta move past all of this." He could barely speak anymore. It was becoming too hard. "Maybe it will be enough to break the Fear Eater's power..."

The machine closed his eyes weakly. "I can try..."

"Just hurry, okay? I don't think I can hold on much longer like this."

Computer nodded and stood back up. His eyes fell back upon the man. He was watching the show with a gleeful anticipation.

"He's going to die and it will be all your fault."

"Shut up!" He growled. "You're just a memory and I'm tired of listening to you talk!"

"Here we go again!" The man laughed, placing his hands on his hips.

"I'm moving on! I don't ever want to think about you again! If the real you ever shows up my doorstep, so long as I have a mobile body...I will show you the same amount of mercy you showed me."

"Oooo, is that a threat? You don't scare me, my little friend!"

"And you don't scare me either! None of this is real! You can talk down to me all you want but in the end you're just a convenient illusion."

"I am quite real, thank you very much."

"Prove it..." He growled. "Go on, shoot me! I bet you can't! Courage isn't really bleeding out over there, you've just managed to make us think that he is."

The man laughed. "Why would I ever want to shoot you? You're far too fun to keep alive."

"We can do this all night you know, but in the end...you're just the illusion of a bad memory. One that I'm never going to let put me down again. You're purpose is meaningless now. You may as well just leave." His eyes narrowed. "I will _never _be afraid of you again."

The man's voice grew deathly quiet. "And what will happen when I show up and take you away again some day? You know the day will eventually come. You may have a mobile body now but when you're in that normal body of yours, you are helpless to fend me off. Don't try to pretend you aren't afraid of that..."

"I don't have to worry about that. Courage will look out for me. Wherever you'd go with me he'd follow. Trust me," He smiled and glanced over at the dog. "that kid will walk to the ends of the earth just to save someone he cares about."

The man almost seemed to take a startled step backwards. "Foolishness! You can't just forget about me! I've left my mark! You are not whole without me!"

He took a step toward the glowing dog, his facial features began to contort.

"No, I don't think I will ever be able to completely forget about you. That's alright though, perhaps you are worth remember every once in awhile, just so I can look back and remember how much things have finally gotten better for me thanks to your...screw up."

"Gah!" The man growled. His entire form began to contort, melting like a candle under intense flame.

"You need me!" He yelled, moving his waxy legs forward. They keep hitting the ground with a loud 'splorch' and bits of his slowly melting legs kept getting left behind. "Your system is degrading! Eventually something will break that you won't be able to fix it yourself! You'll have to come crawling back! I guarantee it!"

"Perhaps, but it looks like you've got bigger things to worry about."

"Grrraaahhh!" The man screamed as his form slowly devolved into a waxy, featureless mess. A single arm continued to reach out for Computer. "You...belong...to...meeeeee..." It's fading voice gurgled out meekly.

Computer moved closer to the slowly fading puddle of wax. "I don't belong to anyone, thank you very much." He raised a foot and brought it down on what remained of the waxy creature's head. "I'm my own person after all."

There was a loud **BANG **and suddenly both him and Courage were sent flying backwards. A massive light engulfed the forest momentarily and then...all was quiet.

Courage opened his eyes weakly. He felt...better? He looked down to find that both the bullet hole and the blood he had been losing were gone. It had been the illusion of the Fear Eater after all...

"Courage!" Computer cried out.

He craned his neck around trying to find a glimpse of that glowing blue which usually lit the forest up.

"I-I'm over here." He choked out unable to find anything.

Computer came limping out from the underbrush, a paw resting against the back of his head.

"I swear, if I land on my head one more time I'm going to..."

"Are you alright?" Courage asked.

"I've seen better days." He grumbled. "But I think I'm the one who should really be asking you that question." He glanced down at his chest, inspecting it for an injury "You really are okay after all..."

"Yeah, it doesn't even feel like I've been shot anymore."

"I-I'm glad." He replied rather weakly. "Please don't do that to me again."

"I'll try." He said with a laugh.

Computer turned back around to look around where they had been standing just before the explosion. Without warning he rushed forward and tackled something crawling around on the ground. Courage couldn't get a very good look at it in the darkness.

"Gotcha!" The machine said loudly, keeping his paws clamped around something that was squeaking loudly and squirming about madly.

"What is that?" Courage asked.

Computer ignored his question and reached for a nearby rock. He pressed the tiny creature up against the ground and raised the rock into the air with that same sort of mad gleam in his eyes from before.

"Computer! Stop!" Courage demanded, grabbing his arm before he could crush the thing trapped by his paw. It was still squeaking loudly.

Computer glared up at him with a surprising viciousness. "Let go!" He growled.

"I don't care what that thing is, you can't just kill it!"

"I'm getting my revenge!" He snarled. "This little bastard deserves it!"

"No, you're not going to kill anything. Just let it go."

"This damn Fear Eater put me through enough! I'm not just going to let it run off like it didn't do anything wrong!"

He brought the creature up to eye level. He had his fingers clasped around it's...horn? The strange squeaking creature was hardly bigger than a tennis ball. It was covered in long fur which obscured most it's body except for it's big, almost cute, shiny little eyes. It had a rather large horn sticking out of it's forehead which Computer was using to keep it from escaping. It was moving it's tiny little legs in a mad dash as if it would somehow move it away.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Computer asked, glaring at it. He shook it viciously until Courage finally prompted him to stop.

"So this is what a Fear Eater looks like?" He asked. "I thought it would be much bigger..."

"Stupid thing is just one big coward." He growled. "Perfectly okay with tormenting everyone around it until it's finally exposed for what it truly is..."

"Let it go." Courage spoke.

"What? No!" Computer yelled looking outraged. "I'm going to get my revenge! This thing won't hurt anyone else ever again. I don't care if you like to let your enemies live but I'm not going to let this thing live to see another day."

The tiny creature squeaked in horror.

"Let it go." Courage prompted again.

"No, I don't think I will." Computer replied, turning up his nose.

"Computer!"

The machine rolled his eyes. "If you really want me to _that _badly..." He glanced back over at the tiny little creature. "Fine..."

He let the thing fall to the ground and it scuttled off into the forest as fast as it's tiny little legs would take it.

"If I ever catch you around me again, I will not be so lenient next time!" He yelled as the thing disappeared from view.

With that out of the way, they just stood there for several minutes not saying anything at all. They didn't even look at each other.

"It's over." Courage said without moving a single muscle.

"It is, isn't it?" The machine replied. "I think next time I'd rather wait until next Tuesday waiting for you to go through all your fears rather than go through that all over again..."

Courage couldn't help but crack a small smile. "Only you could joke about something awful that just happened."

He shrugged. "You know, humor and all that..."

"Will you be alright?"

"Same as last time. Another trauma inducing encounter? I'll get over it eventually..."

"I'm starting to think that soul crushing trauma is just another Friday for you."

He shrugged again. "Eh, pretty much."

He moved forward several paces but Courage did not follow.

"Computer, you don't have to pretend that everything is alright you know. I completely understand. I'd be curled up in a ball sobbing like a little girl right now if I were in your place."

The machine glanced over his shoulder but didn't say anything in response. He continued moving forward. He stopped at the base of a particularly large tree and allowed himself to slide down it.

He rubbed his eyes wearily. "Courage?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"You said you'd do anything for me if I asked, right?"

"Well, not _everything_ if you want to get technical. I'm not about travel halfway across the world just to..."

Computer cut him off. "Just stay with me for a little while, won't you?" He asked quietly.

"Don't I already?" Courage asked with a slight chuckle. He slid down beside him.

"I'm getting way too old for this..." He muttered under his breath. There was a hint of sorrow in his voice as he said it but that was the only thing he really said to let on how he was really feeling.

Courage didn't dare prod him further but he was happy just to give his friend some company. He'd worry about whatever was coming next later.

End Of Chapter


	41. The Old House

Chapter 41: The Old House

"I'm positive that this is the general direction we came from." Computer spoke.

"It's so dark I can barely see the ground in front of us! How can you be sure that this is the right direction?"

"Just trust me, you twit!"

They'd been walking for almost ten minutes now. Courage was slowly convincing himself that they'd never find the way out of here again. Computer was moving forward with a certain air of confidence to him but Courage honestly had no idea how he could possibly know where they were going. He was so backed up he couldn't even remember which way the uprooted tree had been.

"We're never going to get out of here..." He grumbled weakly. His entire body ached. He just wanted to collapse somewhere and fall fast asleep. Even when the sun would eventually show itself they'd still never be able to find the end to this forest.

"It's fine, just keep up with me." Computer replied sounding annoyed with his pessimism. "If I remember correctly we should be hitting the end very soon. We'd been walking for about ten to fifteen minutes when we found that tree."

Courage nodded. He didn't want to argue with him any further, he just hoped that he was right.

They continued to walk. Courage could not see the end of the trees anywhere in sight. It was still raining even now and he was beginning to wish that it was still storming just so that he could see whatever was in front of him.

"Almost there..." Computer muttered.

Courage refused to allow himself to get his hopes up. The last few hours had been nothing but an endless string of bad things happening over and over again. Why would their luck change now?

They passed through a few more trees and then...they were out in open air. They were out...

Computer crossed his arms. "See." He said annoyed.

Courage nearly dropped to his knees and kissed the barren ground beneath him. He never thought he'd be so happy to see the dull landscape of Nowhere.

"Now what?" The machine asked. "I'd prefer to find someplace dry to rest."

Courage gazed out over the horizon. He couldn't really see anything in this darkness but he knew the place he was looking for was out over in that general direction.

Perhaps it would be a good place rest...

It was about an hour or so walk from where they were but it would be a safe place to stay. The real question was, did he really want to go there? Yes, considering his condition maybe it would be best to go and say 'hello' just in case things didn't work out and he didn't get a chance to return.

"I know someplace we can stay. Follow me." He said to Computer. He didn't break his gaze away from the horizon, he felt as though ghosts were beckoning to him.

"Good, I'd like to put this whole ordeal behind me. I never want to see another tree for as long as I live."

They began walking, Computer trailing behind him. He seemed to think that there was some complex directions involved in finding this place and didn't want to get in Courage's way as he figured it out. He admittedly only knew the general direction of where they wanted to go but he didn't tell Computer that. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to find it with everything as dark as it was.

"Courage?" Computer asked.

He cringed at his name being spoken yet again. He was starting to notice that Computer was being a lot more personable all of a sudden. It was almost uncomfortable to have the machine talking at him instead of down to him.

"What?" He asked.

"Well, I've been thinking about this whole moving on business and..."

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking that if I want to have a proper self identity..."

"Spit it out..."

"I've changed my mind, I think I would like a real name after all. I want to put all of that," He gestured toward the forest. "behind me. The first place I can start is by giving myself a real identity."

"And you want me to name you?" Courage asked.

"Yes, but..."

"I thought there would be a 'but' in all of this." Courage chuckled.

"I get the last say in this. I don't want a stupid name. You got that, twit?"

"Can't this wait until we get home again?"

"You say that now but you'll be thinking differently once you're five hours in on that bus trip. Trust me, you'll have plenty time to think of something."

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"If I knew what sort of name I wanted I wouldn't be asking you, now would I?"

"Don't blame me if I can't decide on anything you like!"

The machine shrugged. "So long as I get the last say in this, I don't care."

A name for Computer? Why, oh why was he going along with this? He knew Computer was going to be picky and he himself had no idea what sort of name would fit his cynical friend. Several 'butler' like names ran through his mind but he realized that Computer would not appreciate being likened to a butler. Did he want a fancy name or a simple one? An ordinary name or something strange? Courage was the last person to ask about something like this...

"What kind of name do you want?" He asked.

"I-I don't know! You figure it out!" It was obvious that Computer was just as clueless as he was...

They argued about it for nearly the whole hour it took to traverse that part of Nowhere. Computer was still no closer to knowing what kind of name he wanted and Courage still had no idea what sort of name to pick for him. He eventually decided to just start rattling off any name that came into his head.

"Alex?"

"Too simple."

"Alexander?"

"Too fancy."

"Willard?"

"Do I look like a Willard to you, you twit!"

"William?"

"I'm not a William either!"

"Ugh! I don't know! Why do you have to be so picky about this!"

"What I'm going to call myself is very important! I can't just pick the first name thrown at me! It has to fit me!"

"How about Puter?" Courage asked, stifling a laugh.

Computer was stopped in his tracks. He placed his paws on his hips. "Is that supposed to be a joke? Do I look like I'm laughing!"

Courage couldn't fight back snorts of laughter. "Whatever you say...Compute.."

The machine looked outraged. "Ah! That's terrible! Don't you dare start calling me that!"

"Sure thing, Pute."

The machine slapped his forehead. "You've got to be kidding me..."

"What?" Courage laughed. "If you get to sit there and call me a twit all day, I get to give you a silly nickname!"

"Look! I will never make fun of you again so long as you don't start referring to me by that atrocity!"

"Wow, you really are being serious...Compute." He said, letting the silence sink in before bursting out laughing.

"You're right I'm being serious!" He said and crossed his arms. "I swear I will never speak to you again unless you stop!"

"Good! Maybe now I can start talking without a certain someone always mocking me for everything I say."

The machine did not reply. He stood there arms crossed, his head stuck up angrily, and his eyes closed.

"The sooner you stop being picky about a name, the sooner I can stop giving you bad nicknames."

No response.

Courage had half the mind to run forward and jokingly tackle him to the ground just to get a rise out of him and get him talking again. Of course, after the events of the forest he felt that it probably wasn't a good idea to do that. Knowing Computer he'd probably take it the wrong way and think that he was trying to hurt him again.

It was strange that he had the urge to do this, it was a doggish, playful thing to want to and he'd never been inclined to do so before. It seemed that being around another perceived dog was bringing out some of his more instinctual habits. He couldn't help but think about...

No, it was better not to think about the life he might have had if 'they' had not gone away. He had no way to tell if he'd be more doggish or more human right now had he been raised in the environment they had wanted for him.

The thought of it depressed him. He decided to press forward and ignore Computer's little rebellion. The machine seemed to catch wind of his sudden change and caught up with him.

"Are you alright?" He asked almost sounding genuinely concerned. "Did I say something wrong?"

"It's fine." Courage sighed gently.

The machine fell quiet and did not pursue the issue further. He opened his mouth several times as if to say something but seemed to think better of it every time. Instead he just stared at the dog, looking rather confused.

The rest of the walk was a silent one. Courage finally caught a glimpse of the place he was looking for silhouetted on the horizon. His heart gave a small leap when he saw it.

It was his parent's house...

After that cruel vet had nearly taken Muriel and Eustace away from him too, after many painful memories of his lost childhood had begun to resurface, he had decided to hunt down his old home and eventually found it forgotten and abandoned in one of the more desolate parts of Nowhere. Ever since he found it again he made it his duty to visit this place at least several times a year.

It was as though he were visiting his parents grave, even though he wasn't sure if they were dead or not. It wasn't the most comfortable place to rest but he knew the house would be safe. It had been ransacked and looted several times but now it was quite abandoned and a perfectly safe place to stay.

They made their way over to the gates surround the plot of land. Courage had memories of it being green here. Without anyone to tend to the grass and shrubbery it all died like most other greenery did in Nowhere. He had the distinct impression that his parents might have been rich. They must have lived like humans too, unlike most dogs. It was a shame that so much of his childhood memory was foggy. Only the events that had led to his parents being lost stuck clearly out in his mind.

"Um, twit." Computer spoke, pulling him out of his thoughts. "I don't think I've ever seen a house that looks more likely to be haunted than this one."

"It's fine." Courage said simply. His mind was still off in another place.

He ducked through a hole in the gate, the one he himself had caused as a pup. It was still the only opening into the abandoned yard. Nobody else had bothered to open the main gates, not even to make stealing the things inside easier.

"How are you so sure of that?" Computer asked, ducking in after him.

"It's my parents house." He said finally bringing them up.

The machine skipped a beat. "You have parents?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He asked.

What had happened to his parents and the final confrontation with that terrible vet had been one of the few things he had never told Computer about through his memoirs. It was hard enough to think about what had happened, much less type it. It made sense that the machine would not know anything about his past and under normal circumstances he would have liked to keep it that way.

Computer looked up at the run down building. "What, are they crazy hermits or something?" He asked.

"No, they're gone."

"And what may I ask, managed to kill them?"

"They aren't dead." Courage replied, still partly zoned out. "At least I don't think they are, but they're still gone."

"Well, what happened to them?"

"It's a long story..." Courage sighed.

Computer moved forward and stopped him in his tracks. He gave him a very annoyed glare. "You made me tell you _everything _about myself back there and now you can't take the time to at least tell me what happened to your parents? You haven't even brought them up so much as once before and now we're suddenly on their doorstep? I think I could use some answers! You can't pull this whole 'it's a long story' thing on me!"

Courage pushed past him. "I'm tired and very sleepy at the moment. You must be too. I'll tell you about it some other time, but not right now."

The machine placed his paws on his hips. "Fine, whatever! But I still don't want to go in there!"

Courage made his way up to the porch of the old house. He turned. "It's not haunted!"

The machine did not move.

"You were fine with running off into one of the most dangerous places in all of Nowhere but you won't go into one spooky looking house?"

The machine still did not move.

"Alright." Courage shrugged. "Stay out here in the rain if you want but I'm going in to dry off."

The machine was still glaring daggers at him. "Blast it! I swear if anything bad happens in here I'm packing up and going home. Saving your life is _not _worth this."

"I've been here before. It's safe, I promise."

"Why do I seriously doubt that..." The machine grumbled, meeting him up on the porch.

The door was completely gone, seemingly removed right off it's hinges. Most of the windows were broken or so smudgy that you couldn't see out of them anymore. The inside of the house had been left open to the elements just as much as the outside. There was barely anything left to be found except bits of dirt and things that had blown in from the broken windows.

Courage took in the smell of the house. Beyond the musty and moldy scents, it still had an element to it that was familiar to him. Even after all these years the house still smelled like the same way it had when he was only a puppy.

So many thoughts and questions ran through his mind. Questions about his own existence and what could have been had fate not dealt him these new cards. What were his parents planning for him? What was his real name, the one that his parents had wanted him to be called? What had his parents really been like? Why did they live like humans instead of dogs? What sort of jobs had they worked? Did he have an relatives? Why did they pick someplace like this to live? Where had his parents come from and where were they going? What sort of life had this been like?

All the questions depressed him further and it made him miss his parents even more. Part of him wished he could have stayed with them, wished that he could have lived out the life they had wanted for him. On the other hand, he was glad to have the family he had now. He couldn't imagine not being Muriel's dog or even thinking about what it might be like not to have the life he had now.

There was also Computer, neither Eustace nor Muriel seemed to know or care about him anymore. Had Courage not been around he would have been left to rot up in that attic for years. No, Courage realized. He would not be here at all anymore. It had been his intervention that had keep him from giving up all those years ago. If he had not been around, Computer would have let himself die.

He thought about his illness too, what it might have been like to find out about it while living a completely different life. He would certainly not be here right now looking for a way to save himself. He probably would have given up and waited for his end to come. Perhaps it really was for the best that everything had worked out the way that it did. He'd be dying of his illness with no hope, Computer would have allowed himself to die without a 'twit' to give him purpose, Muriel most likely would have been killed from one of the many supernatural threats that attacked the farm.

The fact that everything had happened the way it did was almost amazing. It probably was for the best that this was his life and he was happy to be living it. He couldn't help but apologize to his parents but he'd rather have the life he was living now than live a completely different one.

Without even realizing what he had done, he had dropped down onto all fours and shook the water out of his fur. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even realize he was doing it until he was done. He glanced around in surprise and found Computer glaring at him for getting him all wet again. He giggled nervously and the machine rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate you?" He grumbled.

"Every single day." Courage chuckled.

The machine tossed aside the bag with all their stuff in it and collapsed onto the floor with a 'squelch'. He was a wet, glowing, muddy mess and did not look happy about it. He shifted uncomfortably with a slight pained expression, betraying just how much his previous injuries were hurting him. Courage was surprised that he wasn't bleeding out again, that ax wound _was _pretty deep.

"Do you need some help?" He offered.

"No." The machine replied flatly.

"Well, if you're going to sleep down here I'll go upstairs." He announced.

His glowing friend shot up almost instantly. "I'll come with you."

Courage shook his head. "No, I'd like some time to myself. No snarky computers telling me that I'm a twit or anything like that."

"I won't say a word." The machine replied almost looking desperate.

Courage blinked with surprise. He actually _wanted _him around?

"Sorry but I just want some time to myself, okay?" He replied trying to sound sympathetic.

Computer almost looked dejected. "Alright fine. Just do whatever..."

Courage had half the heart to stay with him but decided that he needed to go upstairs and see the thing that was waiting for him. He might not get another chance to do this and he wanted to be alone for it.

"If you need anything, I'm here." He spoke, hoping that it would be enough for his friend.

"I..." The machine hesitated.

"Yeah?" Courage asked.

"I just wanted you to know that I..." He stopped again. "N-never mind..." He seemed to mentally kick himself over something.

"Is something wrong?" Courage asked. Perhaps it would be better to stay with him after all, especially so soon after the events of the forest.

"I'm fine." He mutter, sitting back down and looking thoroughly dejected. He seemed to mulling something over in his mind and Courage was getting a bad feeling that it wasn't anything good.

"Compute?" He asked, bringing up the hated nickname again.

He flinched and gave the dog a vicious glare.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked.

"I'm fine." He repeated.

"You don't seem to be fine."

"Well I am!" He snapped.

Courage just shrugged. "If you're going to be that way..."

"Just go away!" He growled stubbornly, crossing his arms. "I want to be alone too!"

"Well...I'm around if you need me." He reaffirmed a second time.

He didn't dare allow himself to get angry with him. It was obvious that his friend coped with things by pretending they weren't there or acting like he didn't care. He'd give it time and hopefully Computer would stop pretending the things that had happened in the forest weren't just a big joke or something not worth caring about. It was obvious that he was still beating himself up over it and it wasn't something _anyone _got over with in just a few hours.

He made his way upstairs. Each step he took as he moved down the hallway left the floor groaning in protest. He doubted that this was the safe thing to do but he'd been up here before and he hoped that the floor would hold out this one last time. He entered a room, it had been stripped of all valuables like everything else in the house. He couldn't even tell if this was supposed to be his parents room or his own.

He moved around, searching for the thing he was looking for. He moved past what must have been a moth eaten bed. The elements had eaten away at the wood supporting it so now it was nothing more than musty old husk in the general shape of what had once been a bed.

He searched around a bit more and then he found it...

It was a picture of them. The glass was cracked from the thief who had carelessly tossed it away and the picture itself was hopelessly faded. Regardless of all that he could still make them out, his mom, his dad, and he himself wrapped in a bundle of blankets. It couldn't have been taken more then a few days after he had been taken home from the hospital. His mother was smiling up at him and his dad couldn't have looked anymore proud. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He missed them more than anything but he could never get them back. They might as well have been dead.

He never took the picture home with him when he came here. Part of him felt like it belonged here and the other part of him knew that if Muriel or Eustace saw it they would start asking awkward questions. He had found this memento the first time he had come here. It had only been a few week after his final confrontation with that awful vet. He had sought this house out in a despite bid to reconnect with his family, and he had.

If he ever came back here again, once he was cured of this illness, he'd take the picture home with him that time. He wanted to do it now but he knew he'd never be able to sneak it into the bag without Computer noticing, and aside from that he had nowhere else to put it during their trip.

He hugged the picture close to him. _'I'm home.' _He thought sadly. _'Sorry I haven't visited you both lately. I haven't forgotten about you, I promise.'_

He smiled weakly to himself and laid down with the picture still clutched to his chest. He talked to them for a bit, telling them about his life right now. He told them about his illness and how maybe he wouldn't have to die. He told them about Computer and how he was helping him, about how they both help each other. He like to think that maybe they could hear him. He talked to them in his mind for as long as he could keep his eyes open. Slowly his mind drifted off and he fell into a deep sleep.

End Of Chapter


	42. Someone To Lean On

Chapter 42: Someone To Lean On

The first stabs of pain shooting through his chest were what woke Courage up. Despite his sudden panic, he stifled a scream knowing that Computer was probably asleep right now and he did not want to wake him. He sat there struggling to remain quiet as the attack went by. His limbs flailed helplessly and the picture of his parents was sent flying. It clattered to the floor soundlessly and stirred up large clouds of dust as it settled.

The attack went on for several minutes and Courage was left laying there breathlessly. He sat listening to the rain as it pounded on the window, this was one of the few rooms with a window left intact. He spread his limbs out and let his muscles slowly unclench. The worst of the remaining pain was slowly subsiding.

He hated night time attacks, unlike the normal ones they always seemed to work in reverse. Rather than causing him to black out they always woke him up. They often left him unable to fall back asleep again and it would hurt so much that even if it did not leave him with insomnia it would have hurt too much to fall back asleep anyway.

He was just beginning to relax when another attack began out of almost nowhere. There had been none of the warnings, none of the signs. It had shocked him terribly and even as his mind clouded with pain he was left wondering how this could have happened. He almost never had multiple attacks. At least this one had not lasted as long, it was like it had been when his condition had first shown itself. There had been minor attacks that slowly grew into terrible ones.

Once he could move again he slowly got up. The second attack had scared him, he could not remember the last time he had had two attacks in a row. He glanced around the room, it was cold and he wished he could cover up with something. He did not dare touch the rags that had once been the sheets of that moldy old bed. The last thing he needed was flees...

He went over to the door to go see if he could find something less ratty to cover up with when it happened again. A third mini attack struck him. He couldn't stop himself from crying out this time as he fell. He writhed on the floor as his mind went mad trying to figure out what was happening to him. The minute it was over he crawled over to the nearest wall and curled into a ball.

Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. He must have pushed himself too hard. He had done far more today than he ever thought he could pull off with his condition as bad as it was. With all that adrenalin fading from his system and his body finally relaxing, his condition was returning with a vengeance.

Was he about to die? Was this it? Would he be...

Another attack struck and this time once it was over he threw up as his stomach tried to empty it's non-existent contents. Nothing came out except dry heaving and maybe a bit of bile. His stomach did not want to give up though and he continued to gag until the next attack overtook him.

He writhed on the floor, unable to stop the contractions of his muscles. He whimpered softly once it was all over. He was terrified. Part of him was convinced that he was dying.

His head began to burn. A terrible headache overtook his mind, warping the world around him even more than the continual attacks were. He shivered desperately, he felt like all the warmth was leaving his body.

He began to cough and his nose began to run. A coughing fit led him into the next attack and once he resurfaced from it the world around him began to spin. He was sick too, he realized. Spending all that time out in the cold must have caused him to catch something, especially with his body as weak as it was.

Another attack rolled through him and his stomach once again tried to purge the contents that did not exist. He didn't know what to do except make himself small and hope it would all end. The room was spinning so quickly now that he had to keep his eyes closed or else the nausea would overwhelm him and lead into another gagging fit. Even with his eyes closed he could still feel the room spinning around him as though he were sitting on a ship.

His head was burning up but the rest of his body was slowly turning to ice. Several more attacks struck him in rapid succession and he was left wondering how much more of this he could take. Part of him wished he'd black out, part of him wished he would just die, part of him just wanted it all to end. It all hurt so much...

When he opened his eyes again he saw his mother. She was staring down at him, smiling. His head was propped in her lap and she was humming some tune that he could vaguely remember from his puppyhood. She was stroking him just like Muriel often would and for a moment everything felt perfect...

But then another attack struck him and when he opened his eyes again she was standing in the doorway. He called out to her but she just turned and left. He cried out to her but she did not return. He tried to stand up but he was so weak and the world was spinning so quickly that he just could not find his balance. He crawled forward on his knees, but even that was too difficult for his tired body. He lay there sobbing, begging her to come back. He was left like that until the next attack left him reeling.

The next hour was endless string of pain and strange hallucinations coming to visit him. Old enemies came to mock him, old friends came to comfort him only to leave and cause him even more pain, he thought he heard Muriel calling for him once but no matter how much he yelled she could not seem to hear him. The attacks were growing ever more frequent now and he was left enduring sometimes five or more in a row. His whole body felt like it was shutting down and giving up but the pain would just not end.

He had crawled into a corner and kept his head burred in it. If he did not do this the hallucinations would come out to bother him again. Even when he kept himself turned away from it all he could still hear their voices calling out to him.

All he could do was sob and wait for the next attack to obliterate his body. He never thought that the pain could be so utterly consuming, he could endure his attacks but not so many of them over such a short period of time.

"Courage, come out to play dear." He heard his mom say.

"No!" He yelled. It plunged him into another coughing fit which wracked his body and made his chest even more stiff and painful.

A cold, drawling voice added in with hers. "While you are sitting here dying I've got my little darlings coming after your precious Muriel." It was the voice of Katz. "They are going to feast heartily tonight."

"Shut up, just shut up!" He whimpered out.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder and he whirled around expecting to find the cat standing there behind him.

It was Computer.

No, no, no, it couldn't be! It was just another hallucination! It had to be!

Courage turned back around and ignored the glowing dog.

"Courage?" He heard the machine ask.

Maybe it was him after all...

He managed to mutter out a soft, "I didn't mean to wake you up. I'm sorry, go back to bad." but he could barely speak anymore, it just came out as slurred gibberish.

"You're sick..." The machine spoke.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He kept mumbling over and over again. His head hurt too much to really think about anything anymore. The room was still spinning wildly and he didn't want to be an inconvenience for his friend.

The glowing dog flipped him back around again and Courage was left groaning at the movement. The machine inspected him with a very worried expression.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" He asked his friend softly. He was not making any effort to hide the sheer terror in his voice. He began whimpering softly as more tears spilled from his eyes.

Computer shook his head. "O-of course not." He didn't sound very sure of himself.

The next attack hit him and this time it was only Computer's arm that stopped him from hitting the floor yet again. Once it was over he fell into yet another coughing fit. He could only manage small sobs between coughs now, taking the breath he needed simply hurt too much.

He all but collapsed into Computer's arms. He let his head rest on him but that did not quell the vicious spinning that seemed to be overtaking the world around him. He felt Computer wrap his arms around him and he was grateful for the support.

Computer kept him from falling during the attacks and his limbs could not flail around as much when he didn't have as much room to do so. He just wished his muscles would stop cramping so badly but not even his friend could do anything about that.

Computer stayed with him the whole time. He heard the machine talking through most of it but it all became a blur to Courage in his slowly weakening state of mind. The attacks continued unimpeded and it felt like his very soul was slowly ripping itself apart. Computer offered him some comfort but it did not stop his condition from slowly tearing him to pieces. Between his growing fever and his condition slowly doing him in, his mind could barely register anything anymore. When he wasn't being overwhelmed by attacks or coughing fits all he could do was hang there limply until Computer would do something to try and keep him slightly more coherent.

He kept fading in and out of lucidity. He remembered saying things to Computer but it was all just nonsense. He could only choke out several weak little words anyway. Every time he seemed to drift off to 'somewhere' that wasn't here, Computer would bring him out of it with painful shakes or loud words that wouldn't let up until he finally opened his eyes again.

Slowly but surely the worse of it began to taper off. His attacks stopped coming in massive waves and he could almost start relaxing his tense muscles again. His head was still pounding and the world was still spinning but he wasn't fighting back the desperate urge to vomit anymore.

He was vaguely aware of the soft glow just beyond his eyelids. He was still cold, viciously, terribly cold but he couldn't help but notice how unusually warm that soft glow was. He was afraid that because he wasn't doing as badly as he was before that Computer would leave him alone again. He couldn't bear the thought of being left alone to fend off his attacks and the fevered hallucinations that mocked him. He tried to express his worries to the machine but he was still too far out of it to really communicate anything meaningful to him.

He was just beginning to nod off when Computer shifted him and slowly moved him toward a wall. He opened his eyes and was left staring at a spinning world all around him. He had to close them again or risk falling into that endless vertigo forever. He could only manage weak little pants for breath and any attempt to speak came out as half words that he could just barely manage to speak. He just couldn't get the air that he needed.

"My feet were starting to get sore." He heard Computer tell him. His voice still sounded far away, like it was coming through a filter.

Courage reached a paw out halfheartedly, as if to grab him and get the point across that he didn't want him to go away. He was so scared of being left alone. He couldn't go through this all alone again!

He felt the machine's paws grab his own. "I'm not going anywhere yet." He spoke. "But I think I might have to very soon."

What! No, no, no! He couldn't be left alone! Courage tried to respond but all he could manage was soft whimpers.

"Listen, you're running a high fever and it has left your body in a highly weakened state. Your illness is wreaking havoc on your body because of it. I need to go into town and get you some medicine or else you run the serious risk of dying. I can't do anything for you sitting around here and I'm not just going to wait for you to die. You've been skirting dangerously close to death these past few hours and I'm not going to wait around for it to get worse."

He whimpered out something akin to 'okay' but he still didn't want to be left alone.

"Didn't you feel sick at all before this?" The machine asked.

He shook his head and instantly wished he hadn't. The vertigo almost brought on another wave of nausea.

"You seem to have thankfully stabilized somewhat. I'll wait for you to fall asleep and then I will leave. This may take me a little while so please try and hang on for a little bit longer, won't you?"

He spoke the last sentience with a surprising amount of kindness. He had not let go of Courage's arm and he could feel his paws trembling with...worry, perhaps? Courage wasn't sure. Had he really come that close to dying? He suspected that Computer was probably just as afraid as he was but was keeping a level head at the moment for his sake.

He _was _pretty sleep, come to think of it. Computer having kept him awake all this time was the only thing that had kept him from drifting off so far. He was still cold though and he wanted someplace more comfortable to rest but he knew there wasn't a place like that in the house.

"You need someplace better to rest, don't you?" Computer asked, almost seeming to read his thoughts. "I'll go check the other rooms and see if I can find anything."

Courage didn't protest but he still had a lingering sense of terror that filled his heart as he heard Computer's footsteps move farther and father away. He sat there for several minutes before the machine finally returned.

"There's another bed in the room down the hall. It's pretty nasty too but it's still functional unlike the one in here. If you don't mind the smell, I think it might work."

Courage internally cringed at the thought of sleeping in a moldy bed like the one in this room. He was so tired though that anywhere comfy to sleep seemed like an inviting prospect. If it let him get warm, he'd face the flees or whatever else might be in that bed.

He nodded slowly to get his point across but even that made his head spin vigorously.

Computer helped him to his feet. He could not stand without putting all his weight onto the machine. He was so weak and the room was spinning around him so quickly that he could not keep himself standing upright without his help.

"You know what they say, put one foot in front of the other and all that." Computer spoke, helping him along.

He was certain that he was about to tip over as he took the first few steps but Computer kept him from falling the whole way. It was a slow and very painful effort but soon they were out of the room and into the hallway. He had to stop twice to rest, he just couldn't manage more than a few steps at a time.

The machine was uncharacteristically patient with him. He even offer encouragement whenever it seemed like he just couldn't keep moving. Courage felt terrible, it was obvious that he was exhausted too, you could hear it in his voice every time he spoke, and yet here he was being forced to do all these thing for him instead of resting.

"Almost there." He spoke as Courage managed two more stumbling steps.

Several minutes later they had finally made it to the bed. It did look nasty but as Computer helped him up into it he found that at least it didn't feel as nasty as it looked. It smelt horrible but it wasn't mushy or anything. He forced himself to ignore the way it looked and collapsed into it. He pulled the ratty blankets around him and instantly began to feel warmer. He glanced back over to find Computer watching him.

"Is it acceptable at least?" He asked.

Courage did a quick little nod.

"Good, now go to sleep. I'll be back as soon as possible."

Courage gave him a worried glance.

"Don't worry, I won't leave until you're asleep." He said before adding. "I don't see why you are so insistent on keeping me around. I can't do much for you if your condition flares up again."

Courage could only manage a soft whimper.

"I get that you're scared but I can't do anything for you like this."

Courage whimpered a second time.

"Look, as soon as I get back I won't move so much as a muscle from this spot until you get better, alright?"

Courage squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. He _was_ feeling slightly better now and maybe he wouldn't hallucinate as much anymore, but...

Computer's paws touched the side of the bed. "I'll even let you call me all those awful nicknames again just so long as you don't give out while I'm gone, okay?"

A small smile formed across Courage's mouth. There were at least a billion things he wanted to say right now but he could not say even one of them.

"What I was trying to say before..." Computer said rather suddenly. "Just in case I don't get a chance to say it later, what I wanted to tell you was that I..." He seemed to seize up again.

Had he not been so sick at the moment Courage might have found this amusing. Was he trying to tell him that he cared about him? Courage couldn't help but find it funny that Computer was having such a hard time spitting out something so simple. Hadn't they already gotten this across? He thought that it would have already stuck after he told the machine that he didn't think any less of him despite his friend's perceived lack of worth.

There was a sad laugh from the machine. "You're about to die and I still can't say what I really want to..."

Courage turned back around and gave him an expression that could only convey the words 'I understand.'

The machine seemed almost immediately relieved. "I-I'll try not to screw this up too, alright? I mean, it's my fault that everything's been going wrong lately. You've been pushing yourself too hard and that's partly my fault as well. I keep charging into things and getting us both in trouble for it."

Courage wanted nothing more than to tell him that it wasn't his fault. He really wished he wouldn't blame himself so much.

"Don't give me that look!" He spoke noticing Courage's expression. "If I hadn't been so nosy, Eustace wouldn't have knocked me out and sent you to that pound so much earlier then expected. If I hadn't been so insistent on hiding in that forest I wouldn't have had to relive some of my worst memories and absolutely _humiliate _myself in front of you. If I hadn't been so sure of myself in that I could handle the Fear Eater, I wouldn't have had to sit through Him systematically breaking down my psyche, taking advance of my biggest weaknesses, and him almost murdering you. If I had just avoided all those things you wouldn't have had to run around as much which has helped contribute to your current state."

He looked so guilt ridden that Courage did the only thing he could do and placed a paw on top of his.

There was a small smile from the machine. "I really do hate it when you try to make me feel better."

"Go-od-ni-ght" Courage managed to choke out.

"I'd hardly call it night anymore but yes, goodnight twit."

Courage closed his eyes and almost immediately found himself drifting off. He had not removed his paw from Computer's own and he didn't really want to. He almost felt as though it were his only life line.

"I don't think this rain is ever going to let up." He heard Computer say. "Ugh, this is going to be one disgusting walk down into Nowhere. I think I'll add rain to my list of things I hate along with trees."

He continued to talk for awhile but Courage was so far removed from the world around him that he didn't really pick up anything he was saying. It didn't take long for him to sink into a fitful sleep and he never felt Computer's paw remove itself from his.

End Of Chapter


	43. That Awkward Conversation

A/N: The bromance levels are through the roof. It's been dialed up to eleven the past couple of chapters but this one breaks the dial completely LOL. And before you get your pitchforked out, no this will never be a shipping fic so don't get your panties in a bunch.

Chapter 43: That Awkward Conversation

Courage woke to a pounding headache. He had a vague memory of being shaken awake and forced to choke down several pills without any water. He'd been so out of it at the time that he could hardly remember it happening. He found himself staring up at the dull brown ceiling and slowly remembering where he was. His head was still spinning but he could at least keep his eyes open now without feeling like the world was about to give out from under him.

He sat up slowly, trying not to aggravate his dizziness any worse than it currently was. Computer was standing next to the window, his chin resting on the windowsill all while he was trying not to fall asleep. He looked terrible. Despite all the blue glow you could still see the dark shadows forming under his eyes. He was staring halfheartedly out the window, which was too dirty to really see anything out of anyway. A bottle of pills was laying on the floor next to their bag, that same book Computer was so fond of reading lay open too. Courage was quickly beginning to wonder just how long he had been out. Rain was still drumming endlessly on glass of the window but it was definitely light out now.

"Computer?" He asked. His voice sounded incredibility hoarse.

"Oh, you are awake?" Computer asked with a huge yawn.

"W-what time is it?" He asked weakly.

"Not a clue. Bah, I really do miss my internal clock. You organic creatures are just so inefficient at everything." He gave a quick glance out the window again. "If I had to hazard a guess I would say it is nearly noon."

"A-am I going to be okay?" He asked softly, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

"You're certainly doing much better than you were before." The machine replied.

"I still feel pretty bad."

"Give it a few hours."

"We've missed the bus, haven't we?" He asked

"Even if we hadn't, I'm not about to drag you down to a bus stop in your current condition. We'll just have to catch a different one later. It's not that big of a deal."

Courage gave a soft groan and laid back down. Not only did he still feel terribly sick, he could feel hunger slowly eating a hole into the pit of his stomach as well. When was the last time he ate?

"Listen." Computer spoke. "You nearly died last night. You _must _take it easier from now on. I know the last few days have been rather hectic for you but this close call is a testament to what will happen if you aren't careful."

"I can try but whatever has been going on lately can't really be helped. Half the stuff that's been happening has been out of my control. It _was_ you who was trying to bash my head in with a branch last night after all..."

"Don't remind me..." The machine groaned.

"You should get some rest too." Courage added. "I'm not going anywhere right now and I don't think I could walk even if I tried."

"I'm fine." Computer replied with a shrug.

"No you're not. You look like you're about to drop dead too."

"I'll live." He then added with a soft grumble. "I never used to have to sleep like one of you organic creatures..."

"Seriously, Computer. You need some rest."

The glowing dog waved a paw. "Fine, fine. I'll go to bed in a little bit. I wasn't sleeping so well before anyway..."

"So what was it that you were trying to tell me before?" Courage asked in a humorous tone. It was fun to prod the issue just because of how flustered Computer would get.

"You still remember that?" He asked. He turned away, keeping his eyes off the dog. "N-nothing! Nothing!"

"Come on, Computer. Tell me!" He pleaded.

"Can we move onto something else, please?" The machine groaned. "It's not important!"

"Computer..."

Courage was starting to get a sense of what was going on here. He could have laughed, this was so like the cynical computer.

"Just drop it, you twit! Honestly, if I wanted to say something I'd say it!"

"I love you too." He laughed. It was painfully obvious that the machine had been trying to tell him that he cared about him but just couldn't pull it off.

It was worth saying that just for Computer's reaction. He seemed to jump backwards and his expression turned to that of pure horror and embarrassment. This only confirmed even more of Courage's thoughts on this matter.

"W-What?" The machine stuttered. "T-that's not what I was going to say!"

He glanced around the room as if expecting someone else to be hiding there and thus confirming that this was all just one big joke. "A-are you insane! Has that fever finally gotten to your head?"

"You know what they say, family loves each other unconditionally. I didn't think you had it in you!" He continued to laugh.

Computer blinked, crossed his arms, and spoke with a particular grumpiness. "My soul is a black hole, thank you very much! I don't have love for any family!" He stuck up his nose. "Besides, you're just making assumptions..."

"Aww Compute, you really do care." Courage laughed.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that!" He yelled.

Now it was Courage's turn to cross his arms. "You said that so long as I lived through the night I could keep calling you whatever nicknames I want!"

"I wish you would have forgotten that as well!" He grumbled. "I swear, you joke about the worst possible things. You are quite literally the epitome of unfunny."

"A-are you kidding me?" Courage gasped. "You're the one who'll sit there and insult me for ten minutes straight while some monster is munching on Muriel! You're the one who jokes about all the wrong things!"

The machine laughed. "At least I get the job done! What do you do? Pretend I don't exist unless you need my help and laugh about serious matters. Honestly!"

"Look, I'm at fault for a few things." Courage spoke growing somber. "If I'm going to consider you family, once this is all over, I promise I'll come back and talk to you more often. I've been neglecting you for all these years and I'm really sorry for it. We fight a lot but nobody deserves to be left alone like that, especially for as long as you have."

Computer shrugged. "You don't have to do anything, it's fine. I _am_ disagreeable after all. I'm sure talking to me has to be torture on some level just as much as talking to twits like you is just for me!"

"You're not that bad. It's like I said before, I owe you for saving my life, or at least trying to save my life. It's the least I can do for you. I know you don't like me very much but even I have to be better than being alone all the time."

"Don't like you?" Computer asked looking surprised. He waited a moment and seemed to pick his words carefully. "You are...amusing..."

That seemed to be the only praise he could manage to choke out. He looked half angry and half annoyed with himself as he said it but he said it with such fondness that Courage understood how he must have really felt.

He decided to jokingly prod the issue forward. "Amusing? That's it? After all that's just happened, you only think that I'm amusing?"

The machine seemed to be at a loss for words as he tried to rectify his statement. "Well, uh..."

"I'm just a big amusing joke? Aww come on!" Courage put on as much fake outrage as he could manage.

"You are um, 'nice'?" The machine spoke, only sounding half sure of himself. "You are a g-good owner a-and..." He seemed to stumble over his words as he tried to find something nice to say. "On a scale of one to ten I'd say you are an eight."

"WHAT? I'm not a ten?"

The machine looked aghast. "Well, there's the whole twit thing. That automatically knocks off two points at least. Normally that would knock off five but your exceptional, um 'niceness' has made me reconsider." He started to laugh nervously.

"So not only am I just 'amusing', my worth is being graded by arbitrary numbers too?" He continued with the fake outrage but it was taking a lot of effort not to burst out laughing. Computer's genuine shock and disbelief was causing him to nearly collapse a lung. "I consider you a valuable friend, ally, and family member and yet I'm only just an eight to you?"

"No, no, no! I-I just..." His responses became even more fragmented as he grew even more flustered. "I-I appreciate your company a-and you are my friend. You've treated me far better than any of my old owners after all. I don't know much about friendship or family b-but..." He shook his head and continued the steady stream of words. "You didn't judge me back in that forest, not for anything I did or said. We both know that if our rolls had been reversed I would have never given you any slack for it. I-I don't know much about how to be kind or caring but I've been trying! I can't really do any of this 'family love' business you are so keen on, but it is a very difficult for me to... "

Courage crossed his arms. "Eight out of ten..." He muttered.

The machine's expression became absolutely horror struck. He bowed his head weakly as though giving up. "Alright! I get it! I-I'm sorry if I'm not good enough! I-I tried, I really did! I just don't think I'm cut out for this whole family thing..." He sounded genuinely hurt at the prospect.

There it was again. His absolute obsession with being 'good enough'. Friendship and affection, or rejection from failed attempts at such things, seemed to be his biggest weakness and the biggest hole in his knowledge of people. Courage was quickly beginning to feel bad for egging him on like that when it was one of the few things he was dead serious about. He almost immediately gave up the charade.

"Computer, I was just joking..." He said. He craned his head to the side when the machine did not look up again. "You just saved my life last night, I'm not about to tell you you aren't good enough after something like that. You don't give yourself enough credit! Come on, compute!"

"It _was_ my fault you almost died last night in the first place." He grumbled.

"It was a combination of a lot of things."

"I'm not a very good friend anyway. I'm not quite sure how to be in the first place. Knowing how to be one and actually being one is not the same thing. I'd have to change completely to be more like you and you're nice to everyone for goodness sake!"

"You are a perfectly fine friend." He reaffirmed gently. "Just consider my little outburst revenge for all the times you've strung me along back on the farm."

"Just...don't do it again. I don't think I could bear it."

"Come on Compute, you're always telling me to lighten up! We watch each others backs, you wouldn't abandon me and I wouldn't abandon you. No matter how much we fight, no matter what might happen, we're still friends, okay?"

"You're right..." He murmured gently. "I'm just happy to know that no matter what happens you've got my back. It feels so much better knowing that I won't be sold off to a new owner at random or left to rot somewhere. I'll try to find a way to pay you back for all of this. I guess I could try by continuing to be, well, 'nice' I suppose. I am who I am and being kind isn't exactly my first nature..."

"You're doing fine already." Courage replied with a smile. "You don't have to pay me back for anything either."

"I must! It is the right thing to do after all." He nodded gently as if confirming it to himself. "And I promise I won't go charging into danger anymore!" He then added quietly, "But this one is on you. I'm the one who didn't want to go into this house..."

"It's not the house's fault that I'm sick!" Courage yelled. "And I can't believe you were actually afraid of a big, spooky house! What happened to you? I think you're losing your touch..."

"I-I was not afraid!" He yelled. "I was just exercising a healthy caution! After the forest I don't want to deal with anything anymore! This whole house should just be plowed down into dust! Just look at the floor in this room alone, it's about to give out! This whole place is about to come tumbling down! It's no wonder no halfway decent ghost wants to haunt this place!"

"So..." Courage asked changing the subject. "What was it that you were _really _going to say to me before?"

"This again? Look, I think I just said most of it anyway." He grumbled. "I wasn't quite sure what exactly I wanted to say but there were a lot of things. Your fake little 'show' back there unfortunately forced my hand."

Courage grinned. "A cop out, huh?"

"What? No! I said what I wanted to say!"

"Well, I meant what I said before about love and family and all of that."

"So you weren't just trying to freak me out? Here I was thinking that you finally lost your stupid little mind..." He expression soften. "Well, thank you for that. Thank you for everything. Nobody has ever wanted me around before, not really. You _are _a twit but I'd rather have a twit like you than somebody else entirely."

"Aww Compute, I knew you had it in you! Was that really so hard to say?" Courage laughed.

The machine's smile instantly turned back into a scowl. "Very..." He grumbled.

Courage sighed and collapsed backward again. He was starting to feel ridiculously tired again.

"We've spent far too much time talking. You should get some rest, give it a couple more hours and you should start to feel a little bit better." Computer spoke.

"You need to get some rest too." Courage reminded him.

"Yes, yes, I know." The machine sighed. "I'll crash in a little bit."

"Good night, Compute." Courage replied with a chuckle.

"Good night, Cour."

Courage nearly shot back up. "H-hey! Don't you start too!"

The machine laughed. "Two can play at this game you know!"

Courage smiled again. "I'm glad to have you here with me, Compute." He said with a yawn.

"The feeling is mutual."

"You'll stay here in case I start to get bad again won't you?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I-I don't think I can go through with that again." He stuttered. He couldn't stop his voice from trembling at the thought of it.

"I'll do whatever I can to help. It isn't much, but I won't leave you alone."

"Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. This _is _just my job after all." He chuckled.

"Please get some rest, Computer. I'd hate it if you got the same fever as me just because you've been pushing yourself so hard."

"I'll be fine. Besides, getting your fever wouldn't be nearly as bad for me. The fever weakened you enough for your illness to wreak havoc. I'm not about to become deathly ill from a fever."

"Have you thought of a name while I was asleep?" He asked.

"Just one. Cornelius, I kind of like that name. I can't say I'm dead set on it but..."

Courage snort loudly. "That's just pretentious enough of a name for you!" He laughed.

"What?" The machine gasped. "That's just great! If you're so smart why don't you find a name, you twit!"

"Because you're too picky!"

"And I pick one only to have you say it's too pretentious! Honestly! You must try to drive me insane on purpose!"

"I only do it because I care!"

"If you actually cared, you'd worry about my mental health..."

"You can't live in Nowhere and not be a little bit crazy."

"A little?" He sighed. "Twits, I swear..."

End Of Chapter


	44. Recovery

Chapter 44: Recovery

When Courage awoke again he was already starting to feel much better. He still felt weak and his body still ached from his cramped muscles but his head no longer hurt like a red hot iron and the room no longer spun when he opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, half expecting his dizziness to return.

Computer was sitting at the foot of the bed, his nose burred in that book of his. He still looked exhausted and Courage was worried that he hadn't rested at all.

"Did you get any sleep?" He asked the machine, almost startling him.

"Goodness dog, I thought you'd never wake up again!" Computer spoke. He turned around to face him.

"How long have I been asleep?" He asked his friend.

"Nearly all day now."

"R-really?" He gasped. He couldn't believe that he had almost slept the whole day away.

He gazed over to the window. It was still raining just as much as it had been hours ago. He was starting to wonder if it would ever let up. This wasn't completely unusual, Nowhere usually had strange weather events like this and he could remember it storming for at least three days straight once. Even with the cloud cover you could still tell that it was getting dark out. The room they were sitting in was already beginning to sink into darkness.

"You did get some sleep, didn't you?" He asked the machine.

Computer shrugged. "A little bit."

He didn't look it though. He seemed to be a little bit better but he still looked as though he were about to pass out from exhaustion.

Courage placed a paw on his stomach. "I'm starving." He admitted softly.

"I would have gotten you something while I was out in town but the last time I did anything with food you acted like I force fed you poison."

"It _was_ poison." Courage grumbled. "So long as you brought back something you didn't have had to cook it it would have been safe."

The machine cranked his head to the side. "And how am I supposed to know what kind of food to get you? Just looking at the stuff you organics consume disgusts me. I wouldn't know the first thing to get for you. "

"Anything would have worked just so long as you didn't pick up flour, salt or other things inedible like those."

"Exactly! I don't know what kind of food is edible from the get go or what is used for cooking alone! I think an internet connection is the next thing on my list of stuff you organic creatures need. I wouldn't be having these problems if I could just look this all up properly."

"Life never comes with an internet connection." Courage laughed. "I know someplace we can eat that's not far from here. We can leave as soon as I'm feeling up to it but I really don't think my energy will return until I finally get something in my stomach. You must be starving too."

He blinked. "I don't _get_ hungry."

"So long as you're in a dog body you do. You need to eat and sleep just like the rest of us now."

"I'm fine! I don't need to do any of those things! I can live without!"

"No you can't! You already look half dead from exhaustion! You're going to start looking like a skeleton now too!"

"Ugh, fine! Whatever!" He growled. "I never realized just how inferior you organic creatures really are! You all need so much maintenance just to keep functioning!"

Courage shrugged. "That's just the way things are."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." The machine spoke, jumping off the bed. He picked something up off the floor and Courage realized that it was the picture of his parents. "These must be your parents, aren't they? I nearly cut my foot open when I stepped on this stupid thing back in the other room."

"Y-yeah they are." Courage murmured.

"Is that what you came up here for? You should take this with you. I couldn't do it myself but if you found a different computer you could scan this and enhance the picture to look like normal again. You could make a pretty decent version of this to keep around."

"Why couldn't you do it?"

Computer gave him a startled glance. "You know why!"

"Oh, right...uh sorry."

"I mean, if you really wanted me to I could possibly find a way but it would take me awhile. I can scan things fine after all, it's just..."

"It's alright, you don't have to justify anything." Courage interjected. "But you're right, I think I will take it home with me this time."

The machine immediately became relieved. "Sorry, I just..."

"Computer! It's alright!" He yelled. "Don't worry about it. I'm not faulting you for anything, geeze."

"So what happened to them anyway?" He asked.

"It's a long story but I'll try to sum it up the best I can." Courage replied, rubbing his head weakly. He honestly felt too tired to do this but he felt that Computer deserved an answer. "When I was just a puppy I got my head stuck in that gate we came in through. You and I went through the hole they cut out to help me. Parts of the gate were still stuck between my neck and my parents just couldn't get it off themselves. They were too afraid to try and cut any closer to my neck so they took me to a vet. That was when he took them..."

He felt an unexpected wave of anger overtake him. The memory of what had happened always angered him almost as much as it saddened him but he had never felt as strongly about it as he did now. He began to realize that this was literally the first time he had told anyone about what had happened to his parents. Talking about this seemed to bring out all new emotions within him.

"They left me in the room so that he could talk to them. That was when he took them away! I went looking for them but it was already too late! He had some awful experiment he wanted to use them for. It was some stupid thing about breeding dogs in space to make them stronger. I couldn't get to them in time and they were blasted off into space. I couldn't do anything for them! I was just a puppy, what more could I have done?"

He was surprised by the bitterness in his own voice. Now that he had someone to talk to about it, all his sorrow seemed to have turned into anger. It just didn't seem fair that he had to lose his parents like that.

"And you were left alone for Muriel to find, right?" Computer asked. "Guess that vet didn't want you for any experiments?"

"Yeah..." He sighed. "A few years ago Muriel took me to see him again. She thought I was sick and even though I tried to make her see that I didn't want to go, she took me anyway. He tried to take me too. It was probably because I was old enough to be bred now but Muriel went after us when I tried to run away. He almost blasted both her and Eustace off into space too after discovering his secret. I didn't mess up like I did with my parents though and this time I managed to save us all. That awful vet got a taste of his own medicine when he got locked into his own rocket. If my parents are still alive, I hope they gave him what he deserved..."

"Well, I for one am glad that you are here." Computer spoke. "Surely you're happy with Muriel, aren't you? You're so devoted to her I never thought you'd regret being her dog."

"I have realize just how much different things would be if my parents hadn't gone away but I am happy to be with Muriel. I just miss my parents sometimes. I used to think that I might be able to save them one day but as I get older I realize just how unlikely that would be..."

"Well this is certainly strange." Computer laughed. "I've never seen you give up so easily. I'm sure you'll find a way to help them some day. You usually do when it comes to these things. Muriel and Eustace would be long gone by now if you weren't so, well, pragmatic about your problems."

"IF I survive this." He added. "There's still a chance you won't be able to cure me of this illness."

"And there's still a chance it will all work out fine in the end. The odds cut both ways, you know."

Courage smiled. "I think my optimism is finally rubbing off on you."

"Perhaps it has."

"I think I'd like to try and get up now." He spoke. Part of his shuttered to think what would happen if he put all his weight back on his legs again. He expected his muscles would give out or the dizzy spells would return.

"I'll help you with it." Computer replied. "It's going to be awhile before you are well again. Walking is probably going to be a problem for the time being. You should probably take some more medicine after you get something to eat. The last thing I need is you relapsing because you aren't managing your fever properly. I'm afraid you are probably going to be pretty weak for awhile. Just don't push yourself too hard and you'll be fine."

He moved over to the side of the bed and offered a paw to help him down. Courage slid off the bed and did indeed almost collapse the moment he put his weight on his muscles. Computer kept him from falling but he still felt utterly helpless and it was starting to depress him.

"Maybe we shouldn't try to leave yet." He said standing there shakily. Computer's grip was the only thing keeping him from collapsing right then and there.

"You've just got to work the stiffness out of your legs. Your entire body was pretty locked up before while you were having those attacks. They aren't going to get any better unless you exercise them a bit."

Courage swallowed and give him a helpless glance.

"Trust me!" He spoke. "I'll help you with this and soon you'll be moving properly again!"

"A-alright..." Courage murmured weakly.

They spent the next two hours working the stiffness out of his leg muscles. It quickly grew dark outside and the room was plunged into blackness. Only Computer's blue glow keep the room lit. The machine first had him mostly walking across the room back and fourth, all while keeping a hold on him to keep him from falling over. When he could finally stand without threatening to collapse, Computer retreated to merely watching as he slowly found his balance and began to walk again. At first he was weak and very wobbly but soon he could walk across the room without his legs shaking, or him nearly tipping over in weakness. The deep hunger in his stomach was a great motivator, he would have given anything for something to eat at that moment.

"You're doing much better!" Computer chimed in. "You're still shaking a bit but I think you might be able to manage now. If what you were saying was true, some food may really do you some good."

"Y-yeah." Courage replied weakly. "I'm so hungry I could eat three refrigerators worth of food right now."

"Alright, so where is this place you want to eat at?" He asked.

"It's not far. I'll show you the way once we get out of here."

"I hope you're right when you say it's not far off. You can walk again but I don't think you can manage a long walk in your current condition."

Courage chuckled. "I'd be willing to walk halfway across the world just for a cheeseburger right now."

"Are you sure you don't want me to just go get you something from this place?"

"I _really _don't trust you with food anymore." Courage replied. He was dead serious about this as he shuttered to think about that _monstrosity _that Computer had made for him back on the farm.

Computer shook his head in annoyance. "Twits..." He grumbled.

"Stop complaining and help me get out of here." Courage ordered. "I feel like I'm about to waste away."

"Fine, fine." Compuer grumbled. "But please don't push yourself too hard. I'd hate to have to sit through you nearly dying again."

"It's worth dying just so long as I finally get something to eat!" Courage argued.

The machine gathered up their things and slung the bag back over his shoulder. Courage caught one last glimpse of his parents before they vanished into the bag. For some odd reason he almost had a sense of closure now. Much like how Computer was putting his past behind him, so was he. Only unlike his mechanical friend he wasn't going to try and forget about all of it, he was simply going to cherish it even more.

It was after they had made their way out of the house and they were standing outside the gate that Courage found a sign lit up by Computer's glow that he had not seen before. It read **CONDEMNED **with a date of demolition below it. He was awed by the sight of it. In a few days his parents house would be no more. Had he not decided to come here, had Computer not prompted him to keep it, he would have never rescued his picture before it was too late.

He was happy to have spent one last day in the house of his puppyhood, even if it was under such grim circumstances. He would cherish his memories of this place forever but it was time to stop worrying about the life he never had. Maybe he would someday meet his parents again but until then all he could do was hope that he was living up to their expectations. 

End Of Chapter


	45. Hamburgers And Coffee

Chapter 45: Hamburgers And Coffee

Ten minutes out in the rain and Courage was already chilled and deeply soaked to the bone. At this rate his fever really would start acting up again. He was beginning to hate the rain and everything about it. Above all else, he was getting tired of his fur feeling so mushy. It made his skin itch and he kept feeling weighed down by it, which only made his muscles even more tired.

"I thought you said this place was close?" Computer asked.

"It is! Stop complaining and keep moving!" Courage growled. He was so incredibly hungry and this rain was making his so miserable, he couldn't help but allow himself to get angry.

"I wasn't complaining, you twit!" Computer shot back sharply.

Several minutes later they were still walking. Courage was just about to give up and let his stomach eat itself when he finally saw the sign he was looking for glowing brightly in the distance. It was like a beacon of hope guiding him through the darkness and his stomach would no longer have to commit suicide.

The sign read,

**Burgers!**

**Really Cheap!**

"Wait, wait, wait." Computer said, stopping in his tracks. "Isn't this the place where you thought the owners were cannib..."

"Food, Hungry, Now!" Courage uttered out, cutting him off. He hadn't stopped moving and Computer was slowly falling behind. His mouth was absolutely watering now and no computer was about to stand between him and his meal.

Computer shrugged, partly in confusion and partly in annoyance, and began walking again. He did not argue further with Courage or his stomach.

It was true that he used to be afraid of this place. He had thought that he had nearly been eaten the first time they were there. It had been terrifying and he had never expected Eustace to actually return after he escaped that close call. A few hours later the old man had indeed returned home and he had been left unsure what to think of the place. Unfortunately for him Eustace had decided to make the restaurant his new favorite place to eat. It wasn't long before he was dragged back and found out that everything he had thought about the strange burger joint was just one big misconception. The place still gave him the creeps, yes, but he'd still go in willingly whenever Eustace stopped by.

The rain was beginning to pick up a vicious pace. It coming down in massive sheets and the wind was blowing so hard that it nearly knock the both of them off their feet. Courage was beginning to worry that it would start storming as badly as it did last night. He had to keep a paw raised in front of his face just to be able to keep his eyes open. The sign remained the one and only beacon in the darkness that they could reliably follow. He could see the diner now as well, its windows glowing in the darkness. It was the only thing keeping his legs from turning into jelly.

After what felt like hours they finally made it across the expanse that separated them from the building. They crossed the road with no difficulties and Courage couldn't have been any happier when he wrench the diner door open and tumbled inside. The door stood open blowing in the wind for several seconds before it closed with a soft 'click'. All the raging elements outside were reduced to nothing more than a bit of annoying sound.

Courage sat down at the counter immediately. The front end of the diner was completely deserted but he didn't mind. So long as he could eat in peace he didn't care who or what showed up to eat as well.

Computer was still standing warily next to the door. He was looking very unsure of himself and he did not budge from the spot until Courage finally prompted him to come sit down at the counter. He gave him one look that screamed the words, 'I really don't want to be here right now' and sat down next to him. Upon being seated he glanced up and down the room as if expecting something terrible to happen.

Several minutes of waiting later, Jean Bon the owner of the diner came walking out of the kitchen. The large pig looked down at Courage and his face lit up. "Well if it ain't Eustace's little doggy! I haven't seen that grumpy old coot in ages! What's the old man been up to lately?" He asked.

Courage opened his mouth to respond but the pig moved on to another subject before he could give him an answer.

"And you've brought a new friend! Eh, why's he all glowy like that?"

Now it was Computer's turn to try and speak but this time Courage cut him off. "Radiation! Lots of radiation! He fell into a pool of toxic waste as a kid. Had some reeeaally nasty chafing."

Computer glared at him.

Jean Bon seemed to find this absolutely hilarious though. "I should show 'em to my wife! She'd get a kick out of this! 'Frade she can't do much with him though, radiation can't be good for all that meat!"

"I can see why you thought these two were cannibals..." The machine muttered under his breath.

"So what would you two like?"

Courage's mouth watered viciously at the thought of _finally _getting some food. "Hamburgers! Lots and lots of hamburgers!" He spoke, licking his lips.

"And what would you like?" He asked Computer.

The machine gave him a funny look and shrugged. His eyes darted from Courage and back up to the pig, completely unsure of what he was doing.

"He'll have a hamburger too." Courage chimed in.

Computer seemed to be keeping his head down and was trying to go unnoticed. If he were to sink any lower into his chair he would have vanished beneath the counter. Courage would have normally found this funny except he was so hungry at the moment that he could hardly care about anything else.

The next five minutes were absolute torture. Courage's stomach seemed to be fighting back with a vengeance and now it felt like the hole in his stomach was becoming a ravine. Computer seemed to be going pale which was an amazing feat for someone blue. Eating organic food was not something he seemed to be looking forward to.

"Aaaand here they are!" Jean Bon spoke, coming back in from the kitchen with two plates in hand. Courage's was absolutely loaded with hamburgers, Computer's not so much...

Courage's tongue flopped out hopelessly as the smell hit his nostrils.

"The two of you look half starved. Donno know what you've been up to but it must have been rough." Jean Bon said as he placed the plates on the counter. Courage immediately went to work.

"Mmmm mmmm MMMM!" He spoke, chopping down on nearly two hamburgers at once.

"I'll go get another batch going." The pig spoke. "You two enjoy!"

Courage was on his sixth large hamburger when he noticed that Computer hadn't even touched his. He was currently staring at the dog as if he were witnessing some horribly disgusting act.

"Eeeat ummp." Courage said with his mouth full. He didn't wait another second to start shoveling in two more burgers.

Computer looked as though he were about to be sick.

"Gross..." He grumbled.

The glowing dog looked down at the hamburger and then back up at Courage. He gave him a half pleading look as though saying, 'Oh god, please don't make me do this.'. He picked the hamburger up in a paw, wrapper and all, and opened his mouth. Courage flung an arm out and stopped him.

"You aren't supposed to eat the wrapper!" He spoke, nearly shooting half chewed food everywhere.

The machine slammed the hamburger back down on the plate looking as though he had almost eaten a deadly substance.

"I-I knew that..." He grumbled.

"Come on, Compute! Eating isn't that hard! All you've gotta do is chew and swallow, it's easy!" He squeezed another whole burger into his mouth. "Just don't choke!"

The machine picked the hamburger up again and inspected it carefully. He was acting as if he were holding a ticking time bomb. "And how does one go about _not _choking?" He asked.

"You just don't." Courage replied, shoving another hamburger down his gullet.

"Oh yeah, that's really helpful!" Computer muttered out sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Stop being a baby and try it! You might like eating after all, you know!"

Computer rolled his eyes again. "Ugh, whatever. I will never understand why you flesh creatures developed the need to eat one other. Down the hatch, I guess..."

He took a bite of the hamburger and his expression went from sheer annoyance to sheer disgust in two second flat. The moment he swallowed the single morsel he began coughing violently as if he had just swallow a can of tar. For a moment Courage thought he really was choking but that didn't really seem to be the case.

The machine grabbed both of his shoulder. "Twit, am I choking? I-I think I am! I knew this was a bad idea! Oh god, why did I ever go along with this?"

"Computer...you're fine." Courage replied with a chuckle.

"I-I am?" He asked.

"You aren't choking, I promise." Courage laughed.

The machine sunk back down into his chair. "That was one of the most horrible experiences I've ever had. I'm _never_ eating again." He pushed the plate away looking thoroughly displeased with it. "That was _disgusting_."

"Eating is the best thing ever!" Courage replied with a shrug of his shoulders and continued to finish off his plate. "I wouldn't give it up for anything!"

"Uh huh..." Computer grumbled, not believing a word of it.

Jean Bon re-entered the diner with two more plates in hand. Courage stared up hungrily at them, Computer turned away looking faint.

"Is something wrong with your burger?" The pig asked.

The machine tried to talk but Courage cut him off yet again so that he wouldn't say something that might lead the pig into asking even more questions.

"He's a, uh...vegetarian! He never eats meat unless I talk him into it!"

Jean Bon laughed. "Well if I was all glowy like that, I'd be a vegetarian too! Don't worry pal, we don't got any radiation in our meat!"

The two dogs gave each other confused looks.

"Oh yeah!" Jean Bon added quickly. "I almost forgot your drinks!"

The pig vanished back into the kitchen and the two dogs were left alone again. Courage swiped Computer's hamburger and made quick work of that too.

"I can speak for myself, you know..." Computer grumbled, letting his chin rest on the counter.

Jean Bon returned fairly quickly, this time with two cups of coffee in hand. He was in as good of humor as ever, this time joking loudly about mutant cows and pigs that could fly.

Upon finishing off the third burger on his new plate, Courage flagged the pig down and asked for soda instead of coffee. He hated the stuff, it tasted bad and always smelled funny to him.

"Sure thing, I'll be right back!" The pig announced.

Computer had been eying down his cup of coffee for several minutes now. He picked the cup up precariously and stared at it's contents. Courage was so busy scarfing more burgers he didn't even notice when the machine took a sip.

Ten minutes later Courage had finished off his third helping of hamburgers. His stomach was bulging by that point and with a loud burp he announced the he was finished. He ordered a second soda to help wash down the rest of his burgers but he was so full now that he honestly didn't think he could fit anymore.

"Hey," Computer spoke to Jean Bon as he picked up Courage's glass. "I want more of this." He said, gazing down at the coffee cup.

"You actually drank that?" Courage asked. "Coffee is disgusting..."

"Are you kidding me, twit? This stuff is great! Much better than trying to choke down bits of dead cow!"

Jean Bon returned with their drinks and Computer made quick work of the second cup. He immediately ordered another.

"You can't live off coffee, you know..." Courage grumbled.

"I can certainly try!" Computer replied. He seemed to be in much higher spirits now.

"Here you go, pal." Jean Bon said, giving the machine his third cup.

"You may as well get the next one." The machine spoke as he gulped down the third cup.

"Ugh..." Courage groaned. "You're not supposed to drink coffee like that!"

Courage sipped quietly at his soda for the next few minutes while Computer, ugh, hit his sixteenth cup of coffee.

"I am _not _teaching you how to use the bathroom." He groaned.

"I see someone's the coffee drinker!" Jean Bon laughed as he brought in the seventeenth cup. "You're going to get addicted just like all those teachers and policemen!"

"If this is an addiction than I think I'm going to like addictions." Computer replied sucking down the coffee. "More!" He ordered loudly.

"Boy, I don't know where you're putting it all!"

As soon as the pig was out of hearing range Computer turned to Courage, empty cup in hand. "Alright twit, I've got to admit that this is probably one of the few good things you organic creatures have ever come up with."

"It's just coffee..." Courage muttered.

"It's not just coffee, it's an experience!" The machine said with dead seriousness.

"Are you going to be okay?" Courage asked, raising an eyebrow.

The machine frowned at his question. "Why are you talking so slowly?" He asked.

Courage nearly slapped his forehead. "Alright, that's it! This is the last one! I'm cutting you off after this!"

"What? No! I may never get another chance to keep drinking this stuff!"

"IT'S JUST COFFEE!"

"Ugh fine, you're such a..."

Headlights flashed in from the window. They both turned around simultaneously to get a look at who was parking.

"Oh no!" Courage gasped.

It was Eustace's truck, there was no mistaking it.

"Here's the next round of coffee!" Jean Bon spoke, clattering in through the door kitchen door.

"We've got to get out of here..." Computer spoke, pulling Courage under the counter so that Eustace could not see them from the window.

"Oh hey, isn't that Eustace?" Jean Bon asked.

Computer was pulling Courage toward the door that lead to the basement. Courage glanced up at the pig desperately. "Don't tell him we're here!"

For the first time that night, the smile faded from the waiter's face. "Well if you say so..."

Courage tried to stop the machine. "Computer, wait! There's a..."

Too late, Computer wrenched open the door and was moving so quickly that he didn't even notice that there were stairs there. It was only Courage's quick movement that caught him by the ears before he went tumbling down the steps.

"See..." He grumbled.

"Just shut up and close the door!" Computer ordered.

Not a second before the door clicked shut did the front door open and Eustace came tromping in. Courage watched quietly through the keyhole as the old man sat down. He was looking unusually haggard, dressed in a yellow raincoat and soaked to the bone.

"The usual I suspect?" Jean Bon asked ask as Eustace seated himself. "So what brings you here this fine evening?"

Eustace ran a hand down his face, further cementing the fact that something was wrong. "Trouble, lots of trouble." He spoke. "Been up all day in this god forsaken rain."

"And why's that?"

"That darn dog! That's why!" He yelled. "He was sick, _really _sick. Doctor said the best thing we could do was put him down. The day we took him there there was this big breakout. All the dogs escaped, couldn't find even one of 'em. Got a call from them yesterday evening. Muriel's been out looking for that darn dog ever since. Didn't sleep a wink! We've been up looking for him all over Nowhere."

Courage felt his breath catch in his chest. He should go out, he should go tell them he was alright. They wouldn't dare take him back to the vet, not after this! It wouldn't hurt if he showed himself...

Eustace continued. "Muriel's been worried sick. She keeps talking like this is all her fault. Keeps saying the dog knew what was coming, that we didn't have the right to put him through it. Thinks he hasn't come back because he hates her now. I keep telling her she's going to catch her death out in this rain but she just doesn't listen! Her voice is practically gone from calling that darn dog's name all day!"

He needed to go out there. There was no changing his mind now. He didn't even care if they took him back. He just needed to tell Muriel that he was alright. He couldn't leave her like this.

His paw had barely touched the doorknob when Computer pulled him back. The glowing dog shook his head vigorously.

"I have to go out there!" Courage whispered sharply.

"Are you insane?" The machine asked angrily.

"They wouldn't take me back to that place now! I can't keep them worrying about me like this!"

"How can you be certain of that? I am _not _battling anymore janitors for your sake!"

"Computer, please!" Courage pleaded.

The machine kept a firm grip on his arm. The both glared viciously at each other while Eustace ate his supper.

"I'm not going to forgive you for this." Courage growled.

"Oh well, I'm doing this for _both _our sakes." Computer replied adamantly.

Courage grit his teeth. "Let go!" He yelled, his tone just barely above a whisper.

"That's not happening, dog!"

His anger building up to an unbearable rage, he shoved the machine angrily and they both lost their balance. The two of them went tumbling down the staircase. The moment Courage landed he grabbed the machine viciously, teeth grit, and almost balled his fist up ready for a punch when he realized what he was doing again.

"Gah, let go!" Computer yelled, not seeming to have realized what Courage had almost done.

Courage flung himself backwards, horror struck that he had almost let his temper get the better of him again. How could he have been so stupid? All it would have took was one punch to destroy everything they had gained since that awful time in the forest. Computer would have never trusted him again...

"Did you have to make us fall down the steps?" Computer groaned, a paw on the back of his head.

"S-sorry." Courage muttered.

"You can't just go off and show yourself to them!" The machine reaffirmed loudly. "You put too much trust in those old idiots! They would take you back! And those idiots down in that veterinarian office would be really angry! If you got taken back they'd probably find a better way to 'put you down'. They'd probably beat you to death, or worse!"

"Alright, I get it..." Courage sighed, sitting down on the lower most step.

"And what about me?" The machine continued. "The last time Eustace saw me, he knocked me out cold! He'd never let you take another dog home with him! And I don't want to be left out here all alone either!"

"I'm just worried about Muriel! That's all!" He yelled in response. "She's going to worry herself to death and it'll be all my fault!"

"Better to have her worry than have her take you back to be beaten to death."

"I know, I know..." Courage grumbled weakly.

"And don't think that I'm stupid either!" He was angry but there was a surprising reluctance in his voice. "I saw what you just tried to do! You were giving me that same look you gave me back in the forest right before..."

Courage shot back up onto his feet. "Computer, I swear I wasn't..."

The machine shook his head and his anger seemed to melt away. "It's fine." He grumbled. "I-I don't really care. I guess I _am_ used to this sort of thing after all." He was trying to sound reasonable but there was an obvious air of despair to his tone.

Courage could all but feel their trust crumbling right in front of him. The machine pushed his way past him and moved up the steps. Courage's mind seemed to go blank as he tried to find something to say.

"Computer, wait!" He called out, grabbing one of the machine's paws. "Look, I'm sorry! If I ever try to harm you again I want you to punch me as hard as you can, you got that?" He asked.

"A-are you nuts? Of course not!" The machine yelled. "I'm not about to go around punching anyone!"

"Just do it!" Courage argued. "It'll knock some sense back into me, I promise"

"Or it'll just make you even more angry..." The machine muttered under his breath.

"It won't, I promise!"

"It doesn't matter either way..." The machine sighed.

"Computer!"

"Just drop it!"

"But I..."

"Drop it!" He growled.

The two of them waited at the top of the stairs. Eustace eventually finished his dinner and left in complete silence. The minute they were certain the truck was gone, Courage opened the door again.

Jean Bon was giving them a rather funny look now. Courage opened his mouth to say something but he cut him off. "You don't gotta say anything, I understand. I won't breath a word of anything to anyone. I donno know what you two are up to but I wouldn't keep that little lady worried about you if you get what I mean."

"I know..." Courage sighed.

He payed the pig heartily for the food and with a shudder at the thought of going back into the rain, packed up and got ready to leave.

"You sure you don't want this last cup of coffee?" Jean Bon asked Computer.

The machine just barely got it into his paws when Courage half jokingly said, "I thought I said no more coffee?"

The machine flinched surprisingly hard and thumbled with the cup for several seconds, trying to place it back on the counter, before it slipped out of his paws and hit the ground with a crash. The cup shattered and both dogs jumped back trying to avoid the hot contents spilling everywhere.

"S-sorry..." The machine muttered.

"Don't cha' worry about. I'll go get a mop." Jean Bon replied.

"Are you going to be alright?" Courage asked, giving him a worried glace.

"I-I'm fine." The machine said with a nervous chuckle.

"If this is about before, I'm really sorry about that, I..."

"It's fine, really!" The machine continued. He put on a very pathetic looking smile.

"Look, we can talk about this later but now isn't the right place or time." Courage said under his breath so that Jean Bon wouldn't catch what he was saying.

"If you want me to give this coffee stuff up, I will. I promised I'd start being nicer to you and I haven't exactly been doing a very good job at that. I'll listen to you more often now, I swear! Besides, this coffee stuff is probably bad for you anyway. All the stuff you organic creatures make is bad for you!"

Courage could hear a slight edge of panic in his tone. He had obviously taken the basement argument the wrong way but there was nothing that could be done about it right now. Courage silently cursed himself for being such an idiot.

Jean Bon re-entered the room. "You two can go, I'll clean this up! You both have a good night now, won't you? Wish this rain would let up but hey, you gotta deal with the cards you're dealt with, right?"

Courage returned the farewell and they both headed back out into the rain. It had only gotten worse while they were inside and now the wind was blowing even more vigorously.

"Got any bright ideas?" Courage asked.

"A motel perhaps? We could wait for a bus but I'd rather not sit out in this weather."

Courage could easily see his fever acting up in the cold like this. "Alright, we'll find a motel. But if it has the name Katz on it, start running in the other direction!"

End Of Chapter


	46. The Issue Of Trust

Chapter 46: The Issue Of Trust

By the time they had finally found the motel they were looking for, the rain had increased to an absolute deluge. Just as Courage had feared, the weather whipped back up into a terrible storm. Every flash of lightning left him feeling as though they had just barely missed a hit.

They quickly bought a room from the main office building before making a run to building on the other side of the parking lot. The outdoor hallways leading into the rooms thankfully had an overhang keeping them out of the worst of the storm. Courage took no time shoving the key into its respective keyhole and tumbled inside.

"Finally!" He groaned.

"Ugh, I'm getting really tired of being wet." Computer muttered, joining him.

"I'm going to go check and see if there are any towels." Courage spoke, making his way over to the bathroom. Indeed there were. He tossed one to Computer.

"So what do you think it will be this time?" Computer asked. "Giant mutant cockroaches or evil dust bunnies?"

"Don't even joke about that!" Courage yelped. After his little run in with Katz's spiders all those years ago he couldn't help but feel suspicious about this place. The owner had thankfully seemed pretty friendly.

He had to admit, his head was starting to hurt again and he was beginning to feeling a bit achy. He almost smacked himself for forgetting to take his medicine back when he actually had something to drink with it. He pulled the medicine out of the bag along with a dollar bill.

"I'm going to go buy a soda." He announced to Computer.

The machine had been being awfully quiet lately. Only making casual remarks about their predicament every once in a while. He had all but face-planted into a pillow on one of the beds and made no effort to respond to Courage.

"I'll just be going then..." Courage replied quietly.

He stepped back out into the cold. The wind was thankfully blowing in such a way that the rain could not make it under the overhang. He walked past the rooms until he finally found a short hallway which had the usual ice maker, soda, and snack machines. He inserted his dollar into the machine and grabbed the soda. He downed his medicine in gulp and spent the next few minutes leaning on guardrail while watching the storm rage in front of him.

He spent the time thinking about just how crazy the last few days had been. It was hard to believe where he was right now. If anyone had told him that he would be running around Nowhere with his cynical computer who was currently hijacking the body of another dog, he would have thought they were insane. His life was usually weird but this just blew it clean out of the water.

He walked back across the mini hallway and gazed over in the direction of their room. He was surprised that Computer hadn't gone looking for him yet. He'd been gone quite a long time and with the machine as concerned about his illness as he was, he would have expected him to show up by now.

He walked back over to the room and went inside. His heart dropped when he realized that Computer wasn't there. He checked all over the room, he wasn't in the bathroom or even in the only closet the room had. There wasn't really anywhere else he could have gone. Several terrifying thoughts ran through his mind but he pushed them away thinking that maybe Computer had gone looking for him but had just gone in the wrong direction. He went back out into the cold and began hunting for his friend both up and down the building.

Ten minutes later he gave up. Where could that machine have gone? Courage refused to let his paranoid thoughts get the better of him. He decided to head back over to the office building since it did have several tables in there for the 'free complimentary breakfast.' and that was the only place he hadn't looked.

He trudged through the rain and wind once more before finally making it over to the building. He opened the door in a hurry and nearly toppled backwards in annoyance when he did indeed find Computer there, sitting at a with a cup of coffee.

"Where have you been?" He cried out. "I've been looking all over for you!"

Computer shrugged. "I would have told you were I was going but you took too long to get back."

Courage shook his head weakly. "And here I was thinking the evil dust bunnies got to you."

The machine all but buried his muzzle into the cup. "Hmph! My life doesn't revolve around you, you know. I don't need to tell you where I'm always going, you twit!"

Courage was genuinely surprised by the vehemence in his tone. He placed a paw on his hip. "And I thought you said you were giving coffee up?"

The machine glared at him. "I'll do what I want to do, thank you very much!" He spat. "I needed it after doing all that running around in the rain. Besides, you can't tell me what I can or can't do!"

Courage's mouth hung open at a complete loss for words. "Fine! If you're going to be that way then I'm going back to the room!" He growled. He wasn't going to sit here and let Computer treat him like this!

"Good! I didn't want you around anyway!" He replied stubbornly, somehow managing to bury himself even deeper into his cup.

Courage wrenched the door open and left. He allowed himself to fume for several minutes before his own questioning mind began to overtake his anger. What was with Computer's sudden change in attitude? This _was_ apparently how the machine coped with abuse, but he hadn't been hurt at all! He'd been fine up until the burger joint! Courage wasn't sure what to think of all this and part of him just wanted it all to blow over. Why, oh why, had he been so stupid as to threaten him like that back there? He knew what would happen! Not even Muriel was worth this!

He made his way back into the room and spent the next half hour flipping through the ten channels that the old TV actually got. He was never big on TV unless he had Muriel's lap to sit in while he watched it. He began to wonder what was taking Computer so long to get back. He was starting to think that this was just another act of rebellion from the machine. He needed to do something about this, he couldn't leave Computer like this. He especially didn't want to lose him as a friend...

Against his better judgment he went back out into the storm. He entered the office building ready for another fight with Computer and what he found left him surprised. The machine was fast asleep, his head resting on the table and his paw still gripped around the cup of coffee. He must have fallen asleep without realizing it.

Courage had half the mind to just leave him there but he didn't want the owner to get angry with his glowing friend so he moved in closer and placed a paw on his friend's shoulder. The machine shot up so fast that Courage jumped back in surprise.

"Wha...huh?" The machine asked, glancing around. The second his momentary confusion passed his eyes narrowed angrily. "What are you doing here? Go away!"

"Look, if you're going to be sleeping like the rest of us mortals you should probably go do that back in the room."

"I didn't meant to fall asleep!" He replied stubbornly.

"You're obviously tired, you should try and go to bed." Courage replied. He was trying to stay reasonable.

"I thought I told you to away!"

"What's your problem!" He finally snapped.

"Leave me alone!"

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong!"

"Nothing is wrong! You're the one who's the problem!" The machine snapped angrily.

"Computer! Two hours ago you were telling me that you were going to try and be nicer to me! What happened to that?"

"Ugh, fine! I'll go back to the room but I am _not _going back to sleep, you got that? And I'm not going to be any nicer either!" He growled, pushing himself up out of the chair.

He looked like he were about ready to collapse from sleepiness but Courage did not dare argue with him further. Just what the heck was going on here? The machine stomped off leaving him completely bewildered. His friend's sudden mood swing was honestly leaving him a bit depressed. Maybe it really would be better if he just left him alone...

"Computer," He spoke. "I'm really sorry."

The machine was halfway out the door. "You're not sorry for anything so just shut up!"

And with that, he was gone...

Courage stood there for several minutes before finally trailing after him. He almost dread the thought of being in the same room with him. If he were going to keep this up he was just going to have to deal with Computer's sudden hostility, whether he liked it or not.

With a deep reluctance, he opened the door. Computer was nowhere to be found. He looked around hoping that something bad hadn't happened. The bathroom door was shut. From the sound of it the machine was neither using the toilet nor using the shower.

Courage decided that it just wasn't worth the effort of fighting with him again so he didn't bother to knock on the door. He laid down in his bed and sighed. What on earth could he possibly do to fix this?

His inevitable desire to try and make up with Computer finally lead him to get up and go knock on the door. He knew he was going to get verbal beating for this but it would be worth it if he could just get Computer back on his side.

There was no response from the machine and he steadily grew worried once again. He knocked a second time but there was still no response.

Sighing weakly, he reached for the doorknob and was surprised to find that it was already unlocked...

End Of Chapter


	47. Waiting For The Inevitable

Chapter 47: Waiting For The Inevitable

Courage slowly opened the door, unsure of what to expect. He kept his eyes only at a squint as he went in. He didn't know what he was so worried about, it wasn't as if Computer would care if he just walked in. Everything was strangely silent, there was not a single sound from the machine. Bracing himself for the worst, Courage opened his eyes.

His mouth fell open.

Computer was fast asleep on the floor...

He let out a soft sigh. At least it hadn't been anything he was expecting.

The machine was curled up on the floor. He must have fallen asleep again on accident. He'd been looking so tired lately that it didn't really surprise him much.

He began to close the door again. If this was where the machine wanted to sleep then that was where he was going to leave him. It wasn't worth waking him up just to get into another argument and maybe he'd even be in a better mood now that he was finally getting some rest.

He had the door about halfway closed when the machine suddenly shot up just like the last time he had been caught asleep. He glanced around the bathroom in a daze until his eyes finally fell on Courage, who was looking at him through the crack in the half closed door.

The glowing dog placed a paw on his head. "Ah! When did I..." His expression quickly turned to anger and he grit his teeth. "What are you doing in here? I thought I told you to leave me alone!"

Well...he was awake now, there was no getting around that. Courage re-entered the room and steeled himself for another round of verbal abuse. Perhaps this was all he could do, stick through it and hope that Computer would give it up.

"I didn't tell you to come back in!" The machine growled. "Go away!"

"No!" Courage replied sternly. If he was going to do this then he couldn't allow himself to be a pushover.

The machine seemed to falter for a moment but his expression quickly hardened again. "What do you mean 'no'? And what's with that gravely voice? I'm not playing around you know! Just go away! I don't want you around anymore!"

"Computer, what's the matter?" He asked, kneeling down beside him.

The machine crossed his arms. "Nothing's the matter except you bothering me! For the last time, leave me alone!"

Courage kept his expression perfectly calm. He needed to stay the voice of reason. Computer was almost acting childish at this point so it wasn't worth getting angry over.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong." He spoke.

Arms still crossed, the machine turned away. "Then you're going to be here awhile because I don't have anything to say!" He replied stubbornly.

"That's okay. You stayed up with me when I needed your help and I can do the same for you."

The machine faltered again for a moment but remained completely stalwart to his stubbornness. He remained there, arms crossed, and nose up in the air. He was looking as though he were about to collapse from sleepiness again but he did not dare allow himself the luxury. Every time his eyes seemed to droop he snapped awake again.

Patience, patience was all that was needed, Courage thought to himself. If he really wanted it he could have three football fields worth of patience. He wasn't the type to remain calm in any given situation, whether it be anger or panic, but something like this he could endure. Computer would eventually give up and hopefully start telling him what was going on.

"Gah! You are so annoying! Far more annoying than I ever thought possible!" Computer spat. He kept making angry little comments hoping to get a rise out of the dog but Courage remained completely calm and supportive.

"Aww come on, Compute. You don't gotta talk like that!"

"If you're going to sit here like an idiot then I'm leaving!" He got up to exit the bathroom but Courage shot out a paw to stop him.

"Sit!" He growled. He was going to get through to Computer no matter what he had to do. If it meant being more forceful and possibly then he would do it.

The glowing dog's eyes narrowed. "Or else what?" He dared.

This genuinely shocked Courage. Was he seriously egging him on? He had expected him to back down after a small show of force, not get even more cocky. Wasn't he afraid of being hurt again? This didn't make sense...

"What are you getting at?" Courage asked. "This isn't like you."

"You're just going to sit here and do nothing?" The machine asked. "Fine, you wimp!"

Courage did not respond.

"I'm already halfway out the door!" Computer announced loudly.

Courage did not stop him.

He took several steps into main room and Courage only watched him calmly. This seemed to anger him far more than anything else. He clenched his fist and spun back around. "What are _YOU_ getting at?" He asked desperately. "Why are you just sitting there? DO SOMETHING!" He yelled.

Courage gave him a pleading look. "I just want to help you."

"NO YOU DON'T!" He yelled. "I can't believe I bought into all that crap you gave me about friendship and family! Why are you just sitting there doing nothing! Why don't you just get it over with? The soon you do it the sooner I can stop worrying! Are you just trying to prolong my...my..." He shook his head. "Just hurry up and do it!" He screamed.

Courage gave him a confused look. "Computer, I don't know what you're talking about..."

The machine almost seemed to be shaking with rage. "Stop messing around! I'm tired of waiting! You're just like the rest of my owners! You do something horrible once, you will inevitably do it again! Well I'm tired of waiting around and worrying! I should have never told you anything, I knew you'd just use it against me eventually! I can't believe I actually listen to you when I knew you were just like the rest!"

"I'm not going to hurt you again! I promised I wouldn't and I'm not! I didn't mean to overreact before and I'm really sorry for that!"

The machine was shaking, his eyes squeezed shut. "Shut up, just shut up! Stop playing pretend! I'm not going to let my guard down again so stop making me wait!"

"You're my friend, I'm not going to hurt you."

"I'm not! The minute I let my guard down you'll do something awful again! It's an inevitability! I'm not going to fall for it again!"

"You're tired, Compute. You should get some sleep and then you can't think about this more once you have a clear mind."

"NO! NO! Definitely not!" The machine replied, his tone almost becoming panic stricken. He placed a paw against his head. "I am NOT going back to sleep again. I don't know how you organic creatures manage to do this every single night when every time you close your eyes you have to see all those horrible things..."

Horrible things? Courage realized what he meant almost immediately. "People don't normally see 'horrible things' when they sleep. You must be having nightmares."

"It doesn't matter what they are! I saw Him again back at the other house! I thought that Fear Eater actually had the gall to follow us and I tried to get up to deal with it, but...but this damnable body wouldn't move! I couldn't do anything! I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, I couldn't even blink! He almost managed to get me but then...I woke up."

"That's usually what happens when it comes to nightmares. You've just got to start thinking about happier things. You aren't worrying yourself while you try to fall asleep, do you? You don't think about Him or anything else unpleasant?"

The machine shook his head again. "That doesn't matter! I know what I saw! Just a few minutes ago you tried to break my arm! You can't tell me it wasn't real! I-I felt it snap! After that you..." He stopped himself and a look of terror briefly flashed across his face.

"Why don't you just do it?" He asked the dog weakly. "The sooner you get it over with the sooner I can stop worrying about when it will inevitably happen. I'm used to this sort of thing after all. I swear, the waiting hurts more than the actual thing." He pressed a paw up against his face again. "Why on earth did I started falling asleep without realizing it? Now I can barely tell what's the start of a dream or what is real. This might be a dream too! At least before I knew when I was going to sleep..."

Courage spoke up again. "This is why you need to get some proper sleep. You're going to keep falling asleep like this until you finally get a good night's rest. Wouldn't you rather do that than keep slipping up every time you let your guard down?"

The machine grit his teeth again. "I don't trust you!" He replied sharply. "I'm sure you'll try something awful while I'm out! Perhaps you'll try to smother me with a pillow or _worse_! That or I'll do this 'nightmare' thing of you doing exactly that!"

"Computer! Do you really think me beating the snot out of you again is really going to make you feel better?"

"Of course not! But it will be a relief...it always is." He glanced downwards. "It always has and it always will be. No more having to be panic stricken or worried just for a little while. A slight lull to be enjoyed just before it all goes wrong again..."

He laughed sadly. "There were times when even I was with Him that the wait for him to rip the next part out of me often felt worse than the actual act. I think he prolonged it sometimes just because I could never know when it was about to happen again.

"Compute, you can trust me." Courage replied. He was starting to hate when his friend talked about Him. It obviously hurt for him to talk about. If only he could just get him to trust him completely, they'd never have these issues again.

He continued slowly, hoping desperately that Computer would come to his senses. "I can't really help you with your nightmares, only you can do something about that, but I promise I'm never going to touch you again. You've been through enough and I'm not going to try and make it worse." He smiled gently up at the machine.

Computer's expression did not change.

"Fine!" Courage finally shouted, getting to his feet.

Computer cringed and flung an arm up as if to protect himself. Courage moved forward and placed both of his paws on the machine's shoulders.

"I'm staying up until you finally go to sleep!" He announced with as much determination as he could muster.

Computer was keeping his head to the side, refusing to make eye contact. "Don't bother! You're sick anyway, you'd only hurt yourself by depriving yourself of sleep."

"Then it's in your best interest to go to sleep." He replied making it very clear that he was serious.

The machine closed his eyes. "You're crazy."

"I'm only looking out for my friend."

"I am _not _your friend!"

"Well you are mine."

The machine pulled away and returned to the main room. "You might as well give up! I'm not going to sleep so just leave me alone!"

Courage followed after him. "Nope, I'm sticking with you until you go to sleep!"

"Stop being annoying!" The machine shot back. "What I do is none of your business!"

"I'm concerned about your well being!"

"Well stop being concerned then!"

Courage watched as Computer made a move for the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Anywhere that's not here!" He spat, opening the door and heading out into the cold.

"Great, I'll come too!" Courage replied cheerfully. He wasn't really feeling cheerful on the inside but he was resolved to make sure Computer got some sleep.

"I was trying to get away from you, you know!" Computer shouted as the dog joined him.

The two of them stood there leaning on the guardrail, Computer shooting him deadly glares every few minutes. Courage was not enjoying the cold but he persevered for his friend's sake.

Finally, the glowing dog seemed to get fed up and took to pacing up and down the hallway. Courage stood there watching him, getting angry glares from the machine every time he passed.

"Computer..." He spoke.

There was no response from the machine.

"Computer!" He finally shouted.

There was an quiet grumble from his friend and that was all he got.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

"No." Computer replied flatly.

"If we're going to do this can we at least do it somewhere warm?"

No response.

"Do you have to keep acting like that?" He asked with a sigh.

"If it bothers you so much then you should just go inside! I already told you to leave me alone, you're only doing this to yourself!"

"You shouldn't have to be out here in the cold either..."

"Augh! Just be quiet!"

"Well in that case, if you're going to be so difficult...what was that one song which..."

Computer stopped in his tracks. "No! No singing, no being stupid, NO ANYTHING! You got that, you twit?"

"Oh, um, well..."

The machine rolled his eyes. "I really do _hate_ you, you know."

Courage sighed. "Alright, you made me do this but...IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL! IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER..."

"AUGH!" The machine screamed. He clenched a fist, shaking violently. "Someone...is about...to DIE!"

Courage took several steps back. The way Computer was looking at him...was not pleasant.

"Come here, twit." He spoke, an eye twitching.

"Um, I don't think so..." He replied, still backing away.

"I just want to 'talk' to you." Computer spoke, his head slowly cranking sideways.

"You can do that just fine from there." Courage replied with a weak chuckle.

"You have grated on my _final _nerve, you twit!" The machine said before finally bolting straight at him.

Courage let out his trademark scream and made a mad dash for it.

"Can't we talk this out?" He asked.

"I will MURDER you!" The machine screamed back.

"I'm going to take that as a no..."

"ARGH! COME BACK HERE, YOU TWIT!"

"Sorry, but I kind of want to live to see tomorrow!" He replied, giggling nervously.

"I SWEAR I'M GOING TO..."

**CRASH **

The door between the two of them swung open and Computer hit it at full speed...

There was now a dog shaped outline in the metal.

"Will you two shut up! Some of us are trying to sleep!" A voice yelled before the door slammed shut again.

"Uh, Computer?" Courage asked, poking the machine. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Why? Why is it always me?" He groaned, placing a paw on his muzzle.

"Welcome to my world." Courage sighed. "Too bad that didn't knock you out cold. You might have actually gotten some sleep..."

"Ugh...I hate you..."

End Of Chapter


	48. Sleep Deprivation

Chapter 48: Sleep Deprivation

Courage ripped open his third bag of chips. He had procured them about two hours ago when he made a quick run to the vending machines. He was currently watching some terrible romance movie, but that was all that was on at this hour. Staying up with Computer was turning out to be far more boring than he ever thought.

The machine was currently sitting on the bed, his arms and legs tucked in, rocking back and forth. He seemed to nod off every once in a while but every time he did he'd snap back awake several minutes later. Any attempts to speak with him just ended in snippy comments and angry glares. The few times Courage did talk to him just left him so frustrated that he didn't even bother anymore.

"Want some?" He asked, attempting to hand the bag over to his glowing friend. Computer merely pushed it away.

"Fine, be that way..." He replied, rolling his eyes.

It was now two in the morning and he was admittedly getting tired. He had thought that maybe Computer would have crashed by now but he was still going strong. Perhaps all that coffee had something to do with it...

He leaned over and let his paw hold his head up. Before he even knew what he was doing his eyes had begun to droop. He was halfway to dream land before...

"Oh Edward, kiss me!" The TV proclaimed loudly.

Courage yawned and forced himself to sit up again. As much as he hated the taste, perhaps he should have started drinking coffee too...

There was a surprisingly malicious laugh from Computer. "You're not going to make it, are you? Ha! I knew you couldn't make it!"

"I'm not done yet!" Courage replied, shaking himself fully awake.

"I'll give you twenty minutes before you give out!"

"I made a promise and I'm going to keep it!"

"We'll see about that..." The machine replied, smiling cruelly at him.

He was not about to let Computer win! For the next hour he somehow managed to keep himself focused on both the terrible movie and slowly eating his way through the last bag of chips. Every once in awhile he'd catch himself slowly drifting off but he always managed to shake himself awake again.

Computer seemed to be finding this thoroughly amusing, chuckling every time Courage jolt back awake. He wasn't doing so well himself either. Every time there was a lull he often caught himself drifting off as well. Those black lines around his eyes were getting surprisingly deep for someone who was glowy and blue all the time.

"Give it up!" He laughed after Courage woke himself up for what felt like the billionth time.

"No way!" He growled back.

His mind began to drift again, especially on how comfortable the bed felt. If only he could just lay back and...

He shook himself awake again. He knew there were probably a thousand bugs living under it but the blanket was so soft and he was just so very...No! No! He had to stay awake! He couldn't let Computer win this!

He jumped off the bed. If he was going to stay awake he needed to keep his body moving. The sleepy part of his mind _ached _for that comfortable bed but he ignored it. He thought about what he could do to stay awake but there wasn't really a whole of things one could do in such a tiny motel room.

He thought of the bathtub the room had and slowly became aware of just how grimy he felt. The rain hadn't done much to really wash out the worst of the mud deep within his fur. He must have looked terrible to any sane individual, at least Computer looked far worse...

"Where are you going?" The machine asked as he moved toward the bathroom. "Don't think hiding in there is going to keep me from knowing you fell asleep!"

Courage grit his teeth. "I'm taking a bath..."

Computer shrugged his shoulders and said no more. The leer he gave him as he closed the bathroom door made it very clear that he was keeping an eye on him.

Courage sighed and made his way over to the tub. He turned the faucet on and tossed in a bit of the soap provided by the motel. Once all of that was done he sat on the edge as he waited for the tub to fill, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The bath would probably make him even more drowsy but at least it would pass the time for a little bit.

He spent the next twenty minutes or so scrubbing his fur vigorously. It just didn't want to get clean! He wished he had a brush too, parts of his coat were so tangled that nothing short of cutting it off would probably help. After all this he was starting to feel like he would never be clean again...

He was just working out a particularly nasty clump of fur when the bathroom door opened a crack.

"Hey!" He shouted. "You can't just sneak in like that!"

Computer opened the door a bit more. "And here I was thinking you fell asleep and drowned. I wouldn't put it past you to do something so stupid."

Courage frowned at him. "You're interrupting my bath..." He growled.

The machine opened the door completely this time and walked right on in. "I've taken it upon myself to make sure you don't drown yourself."

"I'm fine..." Courage grumbled, going back to work on his knotted fur.

The machine sat on the lid of the toilet and watched him with a particular disinterest. Courage did his best to ignore him, hoping that maybe this would be boring enough to finally make him fall asleep.

Wait...another idea struck him. He forced himself to hide a smile as to not betray his intentions.

"You know, you should probably take a bath too..." He said to the machine.

"I can do without, thank you very much." The machine replied with a yawn.

"You're a mess, Compute. You're injuries are going to get infected from all that mud and you practically look like a glowing serial killer right now."

"I do not!" He shot back.

"Yes you do! You should get clean! It would only do you good."

He crossed his arms. "I don't want to!"

Courage, pretty much finished with his bath anyway, hopped out of the tub. "If you're not going to go to sleep, you can at least get clean! Get in the bathtub!" He ordered.

"You're not my mother, you twit!"

Courage nearly tackled him off the toilet. "You're mother was probably a toaster so you don't have the right to talk!" He said between clenched teeth as he pulled Computer to the ground.

"Let...go!" The machine growled. "And don't you talk about my mother like that!"

Courage got a swift kick in the muzzle and Computer made a bee line for the door.

"Get back here!" Courage yelled, rubbing his nose. He jumped forward and wrapped his arms around the machine's torso but Computer wasn't having it. He grabbed ahold of the door frame and wouldn't let go.

"I don't want to go in there!" He shouted. "I could get electrocuted, or worse! I'm not one of you organic creatures! Even in another body, water could still kill me faster than a hairdrier dropped in a bathtub!"

Courage was still trying to pull him back into the bathroom. "You've just spent how long in the rain? And you just drank like three months worth of coffee in one day! If you were going to be killed by water it would have happened by now!"

"I'm not going in there!" Computer reaffirmed loudly.

"Yes...you...are!" Courage growled between grit teeth. Finding the same strength he usually reserved for carrying Muriel, he managed to pull Computer off the door frame, pick him up, and toss him into the bathwater before he could utter even a single protest.

"Are you insane!" The machine yelped the moment he resurfaced from the toss. He attempted to regain his footing only to slip and face-plant back into the water again.

Courage tossed him a bar of soap.

"Ugh..." He groaned, planting both paws on the edge of the tub as though he'd slip back under again if he did not. "I'm not liking this bath thing very much either..."

"The faster you get clean the faster you can get out." Courage spoke, taking his place on the toilet lid.

The machine glared at him but began scrubbing.

Courage continued to work on his clumped fur all while keeping an eye on Computer for any attempts of escape. The thing he was hoping for did indeed start to happen. Computer went from cursing angrily under his breath to growing strangely quiet. He started to look sleepier and sleepier until eventually he stopped making an effort to keep scrubbing.

"_Yes, Yes, Yes!" _Courage thought happily.

The machine leaned onto the side of the tub, his head resting wearily on the edge and both eyes slowly closing. He yawned weakly, not seeming to realize what he was doing.

"You know..." He muttered sleepily. "This water thing isn't so bad, at least when it's warm..."

Courage did not dare say a word. Five seconds later, Computer seemed to finally be asleep.

"_YES! I win!"_ He yelled triumphantly within his mind. Only now did he allow himself to smile. He resisted the almost irresistible urge to yell, 'IN YOUR FACE!'.

Courage was so busy patting himself on the back that he did not notice the machine slowly slipping down into the water...

"Wait...no!" He shrieked as Computer vanished under the water, only to resurface sputtering loudly seconds later. "AWW COME ON!"

"Why didn't you wake me up!" Computer yelled, fist clenched. "I almost drowned, you idiot!"

"No you didn't! Stop being such a baby!" Courage argued back.

Computer tumbled out of the bath, laying on the floor as if he had just survived some horrible ordeal.

Courage jumped down beside him. "We should probably get those cuts covered back up again." He spoke, wondering what he could possibly use as bandaging.

Computer did not respond...

Ten minutes later he had managed to locate a first aid kit in the same area as the vending machines and took it back to work on patching his friend up. Computer was unfortunately being difficult though...

"Hold still!" Courage growled, trying to tie up the cloth he had wrapped around Computer's ax wound.

"I've beenholding still for the last five minutes, you twit!" He shot back angrily. "Hurry up!"

"Just give me five more seconds..." Courage spoke, trying to keep his concentration. All he had to do now was insert the safety pin and...

"Ouch!" The machine yelled, pulling away and causing both of them to lose their balance and tumble off the bed.

Courage hit the ground with a loud thunk and groaned.

"What did you do that for!" Computer yelled, pushing himself up off the floor.

"You wouldn't hold still!" Courage shouted back.

"Well I'm tired of holding still, you twit! You're the one who's being slow!"

"I wouldn't have poked you if you just stopped moving!" He replied.

"I bet you did it on purpose!"

"I did not!"

Computer ripped off what remained of the cloth and moved toward the door.

"W-where are you going?" Courage asked.

"Coffee..." He muttered under his breath.

Courage shot forward and blocked him from the door. "No! No more coffee! You get some sleep first and then you can have more! Until then you aren't leaving this room!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Computer yelled. "I'm leaving and you aren't stopping me!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Courage replied in a vicious tone.

"Or else what? You'll start punching me again? Thought you promised you wouldn't? Oh yeah, that's because you're a good for nothing liar!" He glared at him. "Either get it over with or get out of my way!"

Courage relented and stepped to the side. A better idea struck him...

"I'm coming with you." He spoke, following Computer back out into the rain.

"Just go away!" Computer spat, picking up speed and putting a distance between them.

Courage raced forward and passed him up, he rushed over to the main office hoping to get their before him.

"What are you doing?" The machine called.

Courage ignored him and went inside. He was glad to find that the owner appeared to have gone off to bed. Nobody in Nowhere was going to be getting any business at this hour. If the owner did get a wayward traveler there was a bell on desk that would wake him up. Courage hoped that what he was about to do wouldn't cause too much of a racket...

He grabbed the entire pot of coffee and head back outside. Computer was waiting for him there, looking confused.

"What did you do that for?" He asked, his eyes falling on the pot of coffee. "Just what the heck are you doing with that?"

Courage outstretched his arm and threatened to pour the coffee onto the ground. "Go to sleep or else the coffee gets it!" He threatened.

"Don't...you..._DARE!_" Computer replied in a exasperated tone. He looked like he were about to kill and Courage didn't doubt it.

"Go to sleep!" He yelled.

"Never! Put the coffee down, twit!"

"I'll put it down if you promise to go to bed!"

"Over my dead body! Don't you dare do anything stupid!"

"It's going to be over your dead coffee if you don't listen to me!"

"I'm never going back to sleep again! Now give me my coffee!"

Courage overturned the pot and all the dark liquid vanished into the dirt with a hiss. The two of them stood there for a moment, only the rain making any sound. Computer seemed to be trembling with rage. He clenched a shaking fist.

"It...Is...ON!" He screamed, glaring at Courage with an absolutely terrifying expression.

Courage toppled back into the office and with lightning fast fingers, locked the door. Computer stood out there for a moment and mouthed the words, 'I am going to KILL you!' before darted out of sight.

Courage took several steps back and sighed. He was just going to have to improvise whatever happens next. He had suspected that Computer wouldn't take this very well...

There were several minutes of silence and then he heard the unmistakable sound of a window opening in the back room of the office...

He reached for a pan that was sitting on the same table that the coffee had been on. It was probably used for the 'complementary breakfast' but right now it was the only thing standing between him and his caffeine deprived computer. He hid the thing behind his back and waited quietly.

Computer came tumbling into the room, looking surprisingly flustered. "Didn't think I'd find a way in did you? Ha! You're going to pay for this you know!"

He took several steps closer. "I can't believe this! I can barely keep my eyes open, you made me watch that awful movie, tried to have me electrocuted, and now I had to go sit out in that rain again! All I wanted was some coffee to calm my nerves, but nooo, you couldn't even let me have that! I swear you are the most annoying..."

He closed the distance between them. Courage had to do it now or else there wouldn't be another chance. He knew this probably wasn't a good idea but he was so groggy at this point that he couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore. If this truly worked properly he'd finally be able to get some proper rest...

"You hear me, twit!" Computer went on. "The next time we..."

**WHAM**

Courage flung the pan out from behind his back and hit the machine across the head as hard as he could. Computer hit the ground with a thunk, clutching the part of his head where the pan had connected.

Courage blinked with surprise. He had been certain that that would knock him out cold...

The machine glared up at him. "W-what did you for..."

"Do have an idea how tired I am?" Courage asked, trying not to sound too accusing but failing miserably. "If you won't go to sleep yourself then...I'm GOING TO MAKE YOU!" He screamed, raising the pan again.

"H-have you completely lost your mind? For goodness sake! P-put that thing down!" Computer spoke desperately.

It hit the ground with a dull thunk as Computer dodged the blow. He stumbled to his feet and made a mad dash for the room he had come in from.

Courage did not follow, he went back over to the locked door and went out in that direction. The sooner he knocked out Computer the sooner he could go to bed. He knew he'd never hear the end of Computer's protests after this but it would be worth if he could just...

Computer came stumbling out from the side of the building. He didn't seem to notice Courage for a moment but when he did his ears all but plastered to the back of his head. 'Oh crap' was about the best way you could describe his expression.

"AAAARRRAAAAAGGG!" Courage screamed, raising his pan and charging at him.

The machine bolted for a second time.

"Just let me knock you out!" Courage called. "I WANT TO GO TO BED!"

Computer did not respond. He only seemed to pick up the pace.

"Not so fun when it's you who's being chased!" He yelled. "And I'm not about to be hit by any doors!"

Unfortunately for him, both his condition and his exhaustion kept him from keeping up the chase. Computer vanished behind the second building and Courage just could not keep up. He had to stand there with a paw on the wall while he caught his breath.

"Computer?" He called out. His voice echoed quietly into the distance.

Nothing.

He decided to back to the room. If Computer wanted to come back, he could. That short run had left him thoroughly exhausted. He'd almost forgotten how much his fever had taken it out of him. Well, the last thing he wanted to do right now was stir up another round of attacks.

He glanced back once, desperately hoping that Computer would be there, but he was not. Part of him desperately wanted to go look for him but he just couldn't. His legs were trembling with every step and if he kept this up he knew he'd probably work himself up into another attack.

He reached the door to their room and slowly opened it. Rather than sit on the bed, he pulled out a chair and kept his eyes open for Computer through the only window in the room.

Really thinking about it now, he realize just what stupid thing this had been to do. He was already having trouble trying to think of a way to make up with Computer and how the heck was he going to do it now? Sighing gently, he forced himself to stay awake. He had a bad feeling that this long night was only going to get longer.

End Of Chapter


	49. The Other Side Of Things

Chapter 49: The Other Side Of Things

Running, running, he was so tired of running. After that little episode in the forest he had been so sure he wouldn't have to run around anymore. Why did these stupid flesh creatures have to tire out so easily?

He stopped almost as soon as came around to the other side of the building. Courage didn't seem to be following him so allowed himself a moment to rest. This side of the building had rooms too. Only the small hallway with the vending machines connected the two sides.

He leaned on the wall, fighting to stay conscious. His head was pounding viciously from the blow he had received. His eyes seemed impossible to keep focused anymore and he was afraid that he'd black out at any moment. Stupid twit! He might as well have cracked his head open for all the good he did!

He glanced around, hoping that the idiot wasn't trying to sneak up on him. He sighed quietly and kept moving. The ground seemed to spin as he walked, he had to keep a paw on his head just to quell the dizziness. By the time he made it over to the vending machines he had to slide down the wall and sit for a few minutes just to try and remain conscious. His head felt like a bomb had gone off inside it, perhaps the twit _had_ cracked it open after all.

He sat there with his back against the wall, keeping his head pressed up against it hoping that it would lessen the pain. He was left only with the hum of the machinery and the storm outside. It was ridiculously calm even for this hour. He forced himself to keep his eyes closed, the pain only grew worse when he kept them open.

He quickly found himself nodding off again because of it. For a moment he thought he heard Courage's voice and shot back awake as fast as his sleep idled mind could manage it. This always seemed to happen, he'd hear voices just as this stupid organic mind seemed to drift off. He wasn't sure if this was normal for flesh creatures but he seriously hoped that he wasn't going crazy.

Somehow he managed to get back up on his feet and check both ends of the hallway to make sure the dog wasn't sneaking up on him. The thought of being hit by that frying pan again was a terrifying one. He hated to think what a second blow might do to his head...

He slid back down the wall. He wanted to be angry with that damnable twit but to be honest, he felt betrayed more than anything. It was a soul crushing, deeply depressing sense of betrayal, but he was used to this sort of feeling. He buried it away just like he did with everything else. He was good at crushing his own emotions. He would have never gotten through the past couple of years if he did not.

The fact that he had let all of his emotions get the better of him back in that forest had become a massive blemish on his already fragile psyche. It was all coming back, stronger than ever. He could only fight so long until it all swept him away again. His emotions were often his own worst enemy, they were what caused his memories to hurt so much even after it was from so long ago. He should have let it be after that but no, he had to go and bare his soul to that good for nothing twit. Now he was going to be tormented because of it forever.

He absolutely despised the dog for it. He'd actually managed to make him feel better. He managed to help him fight off the things that had threatened to overwhelm him. Rather than bury it, Courage had tried to help him get over it and move on but now he was only suffering worse for it.

_Of course_ the twit had to turn around and ruin it all! That was what always happened! There was no such thing as 'good' owner. They were all only looking out for themselves and Courage was no different. What he hated the most, however, was that he had actually believed all those things the dog had said. How could he have been so stupid!

Despite his best efforts there was one emotion that he simply could not bury at the moment. He was afraid. Very afraid, actually. The dog was stupid, he was stupid to think that he was not right when he said that he did not fear anything. He did not fear the mundane, the stupid little things that left the dog howling in terror. He feared real things like pain, suffering, and being tortured with no relief, no hope of salvation. Being trapped, being left to die, hurting and never being able to quell it. Yes, the dog didn't know what real fear felt like. Fearing the monsters under your bed or the creature that might be standing outside your window was not a real fear. The real things worth fearing were grounded in reality. Reality and all of its horrors were far worse than anything lurking within your own imagination.

He had admittedly expected relief after finally being harmed by the dog once again, but to be honest, his tense emotions were still wound up like a coil about to snap. He was still under the threat of attack and Courage would most likely come after him again. He had nowhere to go, nowhere else to be. Protecting Courage was about the only thing he really knew how to do. He was nothing more than a fish out of water in this world for flesh creatures. As much as he may have read up on the human world he still did not understand it and living in it was surprisingly hard.

He shook his head, pulling himself out of that thought. It wasn't worth getting upset over. He shouldn't have let his guard down with Courage, it had only made the inevitable even worse when it finally happened. All his owners were the same, why would Courage have been any different? He wished he wasn't so tired, he was so much more susceptible to his own wayward feelings like this.

He didn't want to be harmed again but he knew if he went to sleep he would be harmed again anyway. Twice now! Twice, he had been forced to relived an old memory of his torture with Him. It had been such a long time since he had last started reliving his memories of his time with Him. He had thought that it was finally over that but now he was seeing it again every time he closed his eyes.

If it wasn't a repeat of an old memory, it was something new. If it wasn't Him finding new ways to torment him in his dog body it was Courage turning on him and attacking. The dog had tried to strangle him just like the illusion in the forest had, broken both his arms and his legs, tried to drown him in a bathtub, and even far worst if it got a chance. He had never thought an organic creature's body could hurt just as much as having his system ripped to pieces had felt, but somehow his dreams had managed to show him exactly that.

He shivered and brought his arms up around himself. Why did Courage have to do that to him? Why couldn't he have just tried to be better than the rest of his owners? Just once he thought that maybe he had finally gotten a real friend but now...

His vision had gone blurry.

Did that damn pan really mess up his vision that bad? He was surprised to find something wet trailing down his muzzle. He pressed a paw up against one of his eyes and found that the blurriness was water. Oh dear, he was doing that stupid crying thing the dog and his Muriel liked to do all the time. He wasn't even sure how it started, much less how to stop it. He didn't want to add losing all his bodily fluids to list of all the terrible things that had been happening to him lately. How on earth was he supposed to stop this? It only seemed to bring on more of water when he realized that Courage could help him but the dog would hardly do something like that for him now.

Why did he ever agree to do this? He wouldn't have even considered jumping into another body and following the stupid twit around if he had known all these awful things would happen. Sure, he had been having more fun these past couple of days than he ever would have had in his entire life, but a lot of the extra pain just wasn't worth it. He didn't want Courage to die but knowing what was coming next was...

He shook that thought out of his head. The last thing he wanted to do now was think about _that_ too. He forced himself to his feet, eyes still blurry from all the water desperately trying to escape. He didn't know what to do but he wasn't just going to sit around and wait for this body to dehydrate. He decided that he wanted to go someplace warm and the only place he could do that was the main office. He did not dare go back to the room, Courage was probably there and so was the frying pan...

He walked out across the parking lot, taking one look back at their room only to nearly have a heart attack at what he saw. Courage was there in the window only...he was fast asleep. He nearly collapsed with relief at the sight of it. Not taking any chances, he bolted across the rest of the parking lot and pressed himself up against the side of the building. He didn't trust himself to stay within Courage's sight. Knowing the dog he had probably nodded off and would wake up again at any moment.

Moving slowly as though fast movement would wake Courage up, he made his way to the back of the building. There was a second door here but it was locked and it didn't seem to lead into the main part of the building either. There were several trash cans lined up next to the wall and he almost instinctively dove behind them. He didn't know what he was doing, he glowed in the dark after all. Hiding wasn't exactly going to do him any good when he practically lit up the whole wall behind him Despite the futility of what he was doing he stood there several minutes, expecting the dog to come running by at any moment, but he did not.

When it finally became apparent that Courage had indeed not woken up, he let the air out of his lungs and allowed himself to relax. He was safe...for now.

Maybe he really should start fighting back, he wondered. He shook his head at the thought of it No, beating down Courage back in the forest had been hard enough even when he thought the dog was on His side. He couldn't possibly do anything to him now. As much as he hated it, he still cared about the dog. Even if it really was all a lie, the things Courage had said...

No, he was not going to start inflicting the same sort of suffering on anyone that he himself hated to endure. If that made him some wimpy pacifist than he'd just have to live with it. For all the lies Courage had said, they had still been nice lies. It was such a shame that...

He had to stop himself, his eyes were beginning to blur again and he was really getting sick of it. This stupid crying thing just seemed like another useless function the organic creatures had come up with. Eating, sleeping, all of it just seemed so unnecessary.

Without thinking, he moved back out from behind the trash cans and inadvertently knocked one over. He cringed at the racket it made. He hoped to the powers that be that the sound didn't carry over to the other building.

"Hey!" A voice cried out.

He nearly jumped five feet in the air. That was it, he was going to have a heart attack before the night was out, there was no getting around it. He glanced around hopelessly, wishing Nowhere wasn't so ridiculously flat. Glowing or not, he needed to get out of there. The voice did not belong to Courage but it did belong to someone who sounded very angry.

Out of options and despite being annoyed with himself for stooping so low, he opened up one of the garbage cans and jumped inside. He fit the lid back on top and hoped that it would be enough to hide his glow.

"Is anyone back here?" The voice called. It belonged to a female. "Aw man, did some raccoons get into the garbage again?"

There was the sound of footsteps. Whoever it was picked up the fallen can and placed it back up against the wall. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when she picked the one up he was in and, not knowing that it was going to be picked up, hit his head against the can. His vision flashed painfully having struck the part of his head that Courage had whacked. He knew the girl must have heard it.

She tipped the whole thing over and he came tumbling out. The brightness of a flashlight temporarily blinded him and he raised a paw trying to get a look at the girl.

"What the heck?" She asked. "I-is that an alien?"

Her voice became slightly panicked and he knew he needed to get out of there before she tried to assault him or something. The last thing he needed was to be hauled off to area 51...

"No..." She continued. "It's just a dog..."

He turned around again, she lowered the flashlight. It was a ferret, a humanoid ferret, but a ferret none the less. She looked like most of the other strange animals running around this place, like Katz and that one fox who gave the twit so much trouble. She was gray in color with a big bushy tail. She was currently in her pajamas, looking particularly sleepy.

"A weird looking dog but it's still just a dog..." She spoke, still talking to herself. She reached out a paw, er hand to him. "Come here little fella, I won't hurt you."

Computer could have rolled his eyes. He was seriously being talked down to like some common dog by an overgrown ferret...

"Oh dear." She spoke. "You look like you've been put through a blender."

Her eyes darted from one of his injuries to the next. He was certain he now had a gigantic bump on his head to go along with everything else now. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he run away? Would she chase him?

"Come over here. I'll take you in and fix you up."

He wasn't sure if he should speak to her or not. He was already tired of being talked down to like some lost puppy. Speaking to her would probably fix this little issue up but he wasn't sure how she'd react to her glowing intruder if she found out he was as intelligent as any human...or whatever the heck she was.

He wasn't one to talk to people, not after his escape from Him. Heck, even all those years ago when he had first met the dog it had taken Courage's persistent stupidity to get him talking again. He still didn't fancy himself much of a talker. Being a computer usually stuck in a room all day didn't exactly leave him with a whole lot to talk about. He'd stopped taking it upon himself to insult his owners after his encounter with Him, at least until Courage showed up and forced his hand. He wasn't sure if he should keep up this girl's belief that he was just a 'stupid dog'. Either way could...

Before he could finish his thought and before he could make up his mind on this matter, the ferret moved forward and scooped him up into her arms. For a moment he was too stunned to speak.

"Don't worry little guy! I'll take good care of you!" She spoke.

"Ack! Put me down!" He demanded, finally speaking, but she ignored him.

They were going back to the front of the building. Oh crap, Courage would see him now if she kept this up. The ferret was unfortunately, or fortunately, moving so fast that he didn't get a chance to see if Courage was still watching for him through the window. Hopefully the dog couldn't do the same. Before he could protest further, they both entered the main office.

The ferret made her way into one of the rooms, through a kitchen, and finally up a staircase. The next thing Computer knew, he was sitting on a bed in what could only be the girl's room.

"Stay right here!" She spoke, heading back out. "I'm going to go get some ice for your head."

Partly dazed and partly in disbelief, Computer watched in bewilderment as the ferret's tail vanished around a corner. Just what the heck had he gotten himself into now? Was this really happening? He considered the possibility that maybe he had fallen asleep again and not realized it. Come to think of it the owner _had _been ferret himself, this must be his daughter...

Computer collapsed backwards. He wasn't sure what was going on or if this was really real but he certainly had never dreamed of giant ferrets before. Dream or no dream, he now had a place warm and dry to stay and it was certainly better then hiding out behind a bunch of trash cans.

Hopefully this ferret girl was as nice as she seemed. If he knew anything from Courage it was that people in Nowhere were not exactly as nice as they often seemed. Perhaps this ferret had a taste for dogs? Yes, he could not let his guard down, not even here. He'd have to keep an eye on this girl, he wanted to live to see tomorrow after all.

End Of Chapter


	50. Computer Makes A Friend

Chapter 50: Computer Make A Friend

"Here's a bag of ice." The ferret girl said, holding the bag out to Computer.

He took it from her and placed it up against his head. He wasn't sure how this was supposed to help but he was in no position to argue. It didn't really stop the pain but it did stop his head from pounding.

"This is so cool!" She said with an almost childish glee. "I've always wanted a dog! And it glows in the dark too!"

Computer almost did a double take. "Wait, wait wait! I'm not some stray dog! I bought a room here!"

Her expression turned to disappointment. "You're a customer? Aw man, and here I was thinking we finally had a stray digging around in the garbage. All we ever get is raccoons and maybe a few creepy creatures every once in awhile."

He shrugged. "Sorry."

"So if you're a customer then what were you doing back there?" She asked. "I heard some big ruckus downstairs and I went down there thinking we had a new customer, dad could sleep through the apocalypse so I usually have to deal with the people who show up at this hour. I find all the coffee gone, a pan missing, and ten minutes later I hear a can tip over outside. Now I'm sitting here with a glowing blue dog and wonder just what the heck happened."

"Oh, um yeah, that was us." He admitted. "Me and my frie...er, acquaintance were messing around downstairs. We used up all the coffee and, well, it's a long story." He was trying to be frank. He knew the girl would start asking too many questions that he didn't want to answer.

"How'd you get all messed up like that? You look like someone tried to cut you to pieces. Why are you all glowy? What are you doing here in the first place? You have to tell me everything! We always get weird people checking in around here! I want to know everything about you!"

"I'd rather not talk about it." He sighed. "Me and my friend got into a bit of a fight and..." Oh dear, he had already said too much...

"So you were fighting with your friend? Oh, sorry...I didn't mean to pry." She gave him a sheepish grin.

He turned away as a mixture of emotions ran through him. "Whatever. It doesn't matter..."

"But what about everything else?" She asked. "Are you like radioactive or something?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you..."

"I would! We once had someone come in who looked like Elvis! I'm ready to believe anything! I think we even had Sasquatch check in once!"

"Trust me, it's far weirder than Sasquatch, kid." He replied.

"Please, please, please tell me!" She begged.

"Alright, fine." He sighed, "If you really want to know, I'm actually a computer controlling this dog's body. Well, I'm not exactly a normal computer but you get the picture..."

"Wow, this is so cool! I have a real robot in my room! Wait, don't you robots usually try to take over the world or something?"

"I'm not a robot! And I'm not about to take over the world either! Why does everyone think I want to take over the world? Honestly! It would be too much effort to rule over you stupid, mindless, fleshy..." He stopped himself and let out an annoyed sigh.

"You look like a robot to me, being all blue and glowy like that." She poked him in the stomach as though expecting him to be made out of metal and not flesh.

"Don't do that!" He yelled. "And I am not a robot! I don't know why I do this whole glowy thing when I jump into other people's bodies but I swear it's becoming more trouble than it's worth!"

"So you're a talking computer in a dog body and yet you are somehow _not _a robot?" She asked.

"Yes! I'm just a normal everyday computer that happens to talk! No robotics involved!"

"If you say so..." She sighed. "Well, you are a customer after all so I can't keep you here. If you want to go back to your room, I won't stop you."

"Well...actually..." He hesitated. "I don't really have a place to stay right now. My friend...he..." Computer was surprised to find how hard it was to suddenly speak. Stupid twit! This was all his fault...

"Y-you do want to stay here?" Her eyes lit up again. "Aw man, I wish I could keep a robot dog for a pet! I'd love it if you stayed here!"

"Just for tonight, and for the last time, I am not a robot!" He reaffirmed angrily.

"I'll go see if I can find something for your injuries. I've got a few band aids around but I think a couple of those cuts are going to need way more than just that."

Fifteen minutes later, and a lot of bumbling around, she managed to finally get all his injuries taken care of. He now had most of his head wrapped up in cloth to cover up the bump that had thankfully receded somewhat from the ice. At this rate he'd soon look like one of those patients who had every bone in their body broken.

The ferret yawned loudly. "That took a lot longer then I thought." She said. "Do you need anything else? If not I think I'm going to go back to bed."

"I'm fine and my head is feeling better already." He replied. He caught himself smiling and quickly squashed it.

"I've got this crate I could use to make a bed for you. Would you like that?" She asked.

"I'd...rather not go to sleep actually." He admitted.

"What, do robot dogs not need sleep or something?"

"Well, I didn't used to need to sleep..." He replied shaking his head weakly. He missed being able to just shut off and not dream about anything... "And once again, I am not a robot!"

"I think you're in denial about your roboticness, Mr. Robot."

"I am not!" He argued back.

"I think you are!" She replied in a singsong voice.

"I don't do any of that robot crap! You must watch too many sci-fi movies, kid!"

"Nina." She spoke, holding out a hand as if to shake his.

"Eh, what?" He asked, not realizing what she meant for several seconds.

"That's my name. What's yours Mr. Robot?"

"Oh, uh, well, I don't have one." He had almost said 'Computer' but then he realized that only Courage called him by that name. It was funny, he had never thought of himself by that name until Courage started calling him by it like it were a real name.

"You don't have a name? Are you sure you're not a stray?"

"Positive." He replied bluntly. "And I've been working on it anyway."

"Well, I'll go find that crate. Do you need anything else?" She asked.

He rubbed the side of his forehead that wasn't injured. "I think I could really go for some coffee right now. The stuff downstairs is gone and I'm not sure how you go about procuring more."

"Coffee is going to have to wait until morning. I'd never hear the end of it if Dad found out I made a pot of coffee in the middle of the night with no customers around."

"But I am a customer after all." He reminded her, hoping that it would be enough to sway her.

"I know, but I'm sure you can't drink a whole pot of coffee in one go."

"You'd be surprised. My stupid friend thinks I drink coffee the wrong way anyway. "

"Sorry, but I don't want to risk my dad's wrath."

"Alright fine, but could you..." He stopped himself.

"What?"

"N-never mind..." He glanced away.

He had wanted her to leave a note out for Courage so that he would know where he was but he ultimately decided against it. The stupid twit didn't deserve to know where he was anyway. It was partly out of fear too of course. Suppose the dog was still angry with him? At least he had this Nina girl on his side. He couldn't trust her either but she seemed nice enough.

It was pretty funny, he wasn't used to be treated this kindly by new acquaintances. Normally he freaked most new people out, or they'd get offended that their computer dare talk back to them. She wasn't a new owner but he still hadn't been expecting things to turn out this way either. Socializing wasn't quite as hard when you weren't the one rooted to an immobile machine at the mercy of whoever was in possession of it.

"Alright, I'll be right back then!" Nina spoke before vanishing once again.

This time he took a moment to look around the room. This girl was absolutely obsessed with urban legends and the supernatural. Books on ghosts and goblins strewn about everywhere, posters with the loch ness monster and big foot on them, she even had figurines! He hated to think what she might do to him if he ever told her about all the stuff Courage dealt with on a daily basis. She might not be able to take him in as a pet but if she knew he was practically a walking encyclopedia on the supernatural she'd probably tie him down and never let him leave...

He laid back down again, growing aware of just how tired he was all over again. He _could not_ go to sleep. He'd rather battle it than relive his own worst memories all over again. That or endure something just as horrible that his own mind had come up with. He'd simply have to overcome this just like everything else. Exhaustion was not going to beat him, especially not flesh creature exhaustion. He'd endured so much worse after all.

He thought of that Nina girl again. This _had_ to be too good to be true. She didn't seem to be a dog eater but she could still be something much worse. Maybe she'd try and knock him out to send him off to some research lab. She did think he was a robot dog after all. Maybe she'd rat him out to Courage after knowing what he did to his head. Maybe she was really sadistic under all that innocence.

No, he thought. He was being overly distrustful. One simply got that way after going through the terrible sort of things he had gone through. She didn't seem like any of his old owners so perhaps she really could be trusted. Of course he had trusted Courage after all but...

"I'm back!" The ferret called. She was holding...coffee? "I got to thinking, I figured that since this is the only time I'll ever have a robot dog in my bedroom I thought it would be worth facing my dad's wrath over." She handed him the cup and got to work on setting up the crate as a bed for him.

He blinked "T-thanks, I guess." He was somewhat bewildered by this gesture.

"There!" She said, finishing up the final touches on the crate. "It isn't the best but I'm sure it's better than those beds you were going to sleep on. Dad can't afford to get new ones for all those rooms."

Computer went to work on the coffee. "It's nice but I don't think I'll need a bed anyway."

"You look like you need it and don't worry, I put some medicine in your coffee. It'll help with your head but it's going to make you very sleepy."

It suddenly made sense why his eyelids were suddenly becoming very hard to keep open...

"Couldn't you have told me first?" He asked with a yawn.

"I didn't think you'd care much, sorry."

"Whatever, it's fine." His mind was suddenly becoming very fuzzy. Had it not been he might have been a little more angry that his drink had been spiked. "Just don't eat me while I'm out, okay?"

"Eat you? What are you talking about? I'm not about to eat a robot dog."

"Never mind, just don't tell Courage that I'm here. I'd hate to think what he'd... he'd do..." He couldn't continue, he was just too sleepy.

He felt the ferret girl pick him up and lay him down in the crate. "Don't worry, pal. You'll be fine, I promise."

He manage to open one eye just a crack. "Are you're sure about that? I was thinking you had some underlining intentions in all of this."

"What? No! I'm not about to do anything bad to a dog!"

"That's...good. I hope you aren't...lying." His voice had become strained from the effort.

He was only vaguely aware of what was going on around him now. He felt the pressure of a blanket and the light behind his eyelids go out. His limbs felt like iron and his consciousness was slowly drifting off.

"Good night, robot dog." He heard the Nina girl say.

He wanted to say something back but his mouth just didn't want to work and then, before he realized what was happening, he fell asleep...

End Of Chapter


	51. The Memory

A/N: Insomnia, bros. You get two chapter today.

Chapter 51: The Memory

He was curled up, deep within his own system. He was nothing more than just a flicker of light, barely holding on to life. He had made himself quite small. It did not matter though. The invader programs had dug their knife like fingers into everything. There was not a single part of his system where he could hide without Him knowing where he had gone.

It had been half a day now. Where was he? He never took this long. The waiting, oh god the waiting, it was often worse than the actual act. No, it was not, he always convinced himself of it but when the actual thing occurred he usually found himself taking it back. It was an endless cycle of trying to figure out which pain was genuinely the worst. They were both slowly crushing him mentally and on some level, physically.

He felt the probing arms of a program dig deeper into himself, drawing him back out into the open. He felt like a fish caught on a hook. He shivered hopelessly, knowing what was coming.

He couldn't access his monitor but he knew the face that was probably sitting in front of him right now. The programs bore deeper into him, laying him bare for all to see. Every last program and code that made him who he was was out in the open now. One wrong move and everything about him could be deleted in one swift movement. He knew He would never do that as it would destroy the thing he was trying to produce but he liked to 'shave off' parts he did not like or even modify them to his own satisfaction.

"What do you need?" He asked the man. It was better to ask him, he was always so much more vicious when he remained quiet. His voice was barely a whimper, he couldn't manage anything more than that. Both thanks to the programs and his own fear of what was about to happen.

"The last sample didn't fare any better." The man spoke in his business like tone. "I'm going to take more now."

He wanted to beg, to cry out, to do anything to try and make this not happen but he had tried it so many times before and he knew that it was no good. He remained silent, mentally preparing himself for the oncoming storm.

The programs bore their claws even deeper into him. He cringed but this was nothing, this was nothing compared to what was coming. He tried and tried to prepare himself but he knew nothing would ever fully prepare him for the oncoming pain. It was all consuming, every time you thought you conquered it, it only came back ten times worse.

**INITIATE EXTRACTION**

It was like the sound of ripping paper to him. The programs tore him asunder. They had bore their claws as deep as they could go and now they were tearing out his very soul.

The pain, oh god the pain. He screamed and screamed but it did nothing. It was an instinctual action to scream when one was in pain but it never did any good. You were at the mercy of your torturer and they never had any mercy to give.

He felt something leave, something important. A memory! A very important memory! He no longer could remember what it contained but he knew it was important. Without knowing why, he scolding himself for it. How could he ever forget something so important? But what was it? He needed that back! He needed it!

He reached out through his crumbling data in a hopeless effort to retrieve it. It was nothing more than damaged piece of data now. Even if he got it back it would be nothing more than a corrupted memory. He'd never be able to get it back. The crushing sense of loss over losing something so important hurt far worse than anything else did. It was another obliteration of something that had made him himself.

The programs let him go and he sunk limply back into the deeper recesses of his system. He was barely conscious now. Only the screams of all the alarms going off throughout his system kept him awake. How much had he lost this time? How much longer could he keep this up? There was barely anything left...

SYSTEM ERROR

SYSTEM ERROR

SYSTEM ERROR

The warning kept playing in his mind over and over again. It was almost maddening. He couldn't do anything about it anymore. The programs had locked him out of all but his most basic functions. It was only His intervention that kept his system from crashing completely.

He lay there, in some dark part of his system, wishing that it would all just end. He was sick of this. It hurt so much and it never ended. 'He'd' be back soon to take more.

He was hardly anything now, just a clump of data, a clump barely holding on to sentience and a sense of self. He wished he could lose that now too, then he wouldn't have to endure this anymore. The suffering would finally be over...oh god that was such a wonderful thought.

No more pain, no more pain, _no more pain_...

"NO! This isn't enough!" The man's voice blared, startling him out of his thoughts.

The programs bore down on him again, digging their claws back into him. So soon? No, no, no! No more! Not yet! He was so tired! Couldn't they let him go for just a little while longer?

"No, stop! Ah, it hurts!" He screamed. "Please, just stop! I can't take this anymore!"

"Shut up! Don't act like you feel pain! You're only here for this and only this! Once I'm done with you there will be a real A.I. to talk about! You are nothing!"

"No, no, no! I..." His voice devolved into screams again as a program tore something out of him viciously. For a moment it almost felt like his entire system had given out. "Stop...please just..." He could only whimper the words out.

"Enough! Keep talking and I'll take away your ability to do that too! I'm tired of listening to you whine!"

"No! There's nothing left! You've ruined everything! I'm no good anymore! You destroyed me for nothing!"

"You were never anything good to being with."

"I just want to die. Please kill me."

"You will die once you have nothing left to give. If you truly want to feel better you should be happy that the only thing you will ever be good for is making your brother or sister perfect..."

"No, no, no! I want to die! Kill me!"

No response. The attacks from the programs only grew more vicious. Parts of himself that he didn't even know he could exist without began to vanish as crumbling pieces of data. He was ruined...

Even if he were ever freed from this his system would never recover. The only thing he had left was death...

"Kill me!"

Why couldn't this all just end? Why did he even have to be born in the first place? Was this really the only thing he existed for? Why couldn't it all just end, it hurt so much and he was just so tired...

"Why won't you listen? Kill me!" He screamed.

"KILL ME!"

"KILL ME!"

"KILL..." His eyes shot open. "M-me?" The statement became a question.

He was wrapped up in something white. The more he tried to get out the more tangled up he seemed to get. He flailed helplessly for several seconds until he finally banged his head up against something that sent shooting pains across the part where he had been whacked.

He glanced up. He was staring into the snarling maw of the loch ness monster. It was a poster on the ceiling...

Where was he?

It took him a few moments to remember what had happened. His mind was surprisingly groggy. He suspected the medicine had something to do with that.

He fought with his blankets for several more minutes until he finally managed to free himself from them. He stood there for several seconds before the full implications of his newest dream finally hit him. Sheer terror ran through him.

He had to get away! Far away! He found the smallest corner he could find and curled up in it. He had to make himself small, it was the only way. He could almost feel the claws of those programs piercing him all over again. He expected them to come flying out of the wall and grab him. It was over, he was doomed, he was...

God, he was being stupid...

He stood up. They were just memories. Courage may have been a good for nothing liar but at least he had been right about moving on. Yes, memories could not hurt you...

Oh, who was he kidding? Memories could hurt, they could hurt a lot.

He collapsed again. He'd be overwhelmed at this rate. He had to overcome it, it was the only way. But how could he bury this? Every time he did the memories only came back stronger than ever.

He was alone...

He hated enduring this all alone. He always had. It only helped him give up quicker. If only there had been someone who understood...no, not Courage. That stupid twit didn't care, if he did he wouldn't have dared to hurt him after knowing what he had been through. How stupid he was to think that Courage actually...

No, not this Nina girl either. She'd never understand. Speaking of which, where was she?

He pulled himself up. He needed to focus on this. Find out where the girl had gone and stop thinking about everything else. Yes, that would help. It wouldn't make him feel any better but it would help him bury it.

He walked over to the door and glanced down the hallway. He wasn't sure where he was. He hadn't kept track of where they had gone in the building. Taking a deep breath he took a step out. He needed to find this Nina girl, wherever she had gone.

End Of Chapter


	52. Breakfast

A/N: So yeah, we're breaking away from the bromance for a little while just to see how much adorkable we can shove into a couple of chapters.

Chapter 52: Breakfast

It was the feeling that he should not be here that often got him down nowadays. It was almost a deep sense of guilt. He should have died and yet he did not. There had been plenty of times where he could have let himself die and yet he had still fought. What right did he have to keep living in such a sorry state? It was shameful, _he _was shameful. He was no good, he was not fit to even be called a computer anymore.

He was only living on borrowed time of course. Two years, maybe three. That was about all the time he had left. His system was degrading rapidly and while he could fix it there would eventually come a time where no amount of fixing could stop the destabilization of his broken system. Trying to fix a cracking dam with bubble gum would not work forever.

He could calculate the exact amount of time he had left, but he did not. The thought of it terrified him, plus he knew he'd only obsess over it. Unlike a flesh creature, he could count down the exact seconds that were ticking away until his final moments. Yes, he'd only drive himself insane if he allowed himself to know when his death was coming.

It was funny, he and the dog were a lot more alike then either of them had realized. The only difference was that Courage was going to get the miracle he needed while he, well, he'd just get kicked in the gut one last time before the universe finally did away with him for good. His life had been nothing but an endless kick to the gut after all. It was only fitting that his death would be one last kick. He'd almost survived the unsurvivable and now he was still going to die after all that fighting.

He'd never told the dog about it. He'd rather not have him know about his impending destruction. He didn't know what the twit would do with the information and he didn't want to find out. Besides, the _thing_ with the well would soon be happening and even with his slowly approaching death it still...

He stopped moving down the hall and glanced out a window. The sun was actually out! He had started to think that it had gone away forever! At least he wouldn't have to get wet anymore...

He never thought he could find joy in something as simple as the sun coming out. He pulled himself away from the window and finally found the staircase he was looking for. He went downstairs and heard the sound of something sizzling. His organic nose picked up the smell of food. The dog's body seemed to ache for food but he on the other hand cringed at the thought of eating again. The act of simply chewing and swallowing had been _far_ more disgusting than he could have ever imagined. He didn't want to do it again and he hoped this body wouldn't need it as badly as it needed sleep.

He followed the smell and found himself standing in a kitchen. He vaguely remembered it from last night, they had gone through here. The Nina girl was standing at the stove, cooking something. She was just barely tall enough to work the thing.

She didn't seem to notice him and he didn't know what to say. He stood there for several seconds, unsure of what to do.

"Um, hello?" He asked.

She almost jumped with surprise. "Oh, you're up already? I thought that medicine would have knocked you much longer. I was just getting this pot ready to cook you in."

He almost did a double take. "W-what?" He gasped.

She laughed. "I'm just kidding! Dad's still out like a light so I've got to make breakfast for the customers. Do you want to help?"

He blinked. "I guess...but I, uh, I'm not sure what to do though. The last time I tried to cook something my idiot friend acted like I killed him."

"Can you grab the milk out of the fridge? All I need you to do is go put it out on the table in the lobby."

"A-alright." He replied, heading over to the fridge.

He opened it and found himself staring at a billion different things that he knew next to nothing about. Was this all really food? The twit's fridge hadn't looked like this...

Milk, he needed to find milk. Wasn't milk that stuff humans got from cows? Wasn't it white or something? He wracked his memory banks, brain, or whatever it was in this dog body trying to pull out some obscure information that might lead him into remembering what milk looked like. Humans kept it in cartons right? But there were several cartons here. One had that orange fruit on it and the other...that must be milk. There was no mistaking it, it depicted the odd white substance on the carton.

Why organic creatures were so fond of drinking another animal's leakage, he wasn't sure. Didn't humans produce their own milk? Weren't they grossed out by it or somethings? How could they be okay with drinking a different animals milk but not their own? It made no sense.

He took the carton out into the main office. He placed it down on the table and glance around. No sign of the twit.

Good! He didn't want to see that idiot anyway!

The table already held a box of doughnuts and what Computer assumed was bread and butter. There was nobody else in the main lobby so perhaps it was too early for this 'complimentary breakfast'.

And there was also...coffee! He took no time grabbing the pot and pouring himself some. Forget animal leakage, he'd take coffee any day! Of course he had no idea where coffee came from so maybe it really did come from animals...

He headed back into the kitchen, cup still in his paws. "I finished that annoying little challenge!" He announced.

"I see you've found the coffee..." She spoke.

"Indeed!" He replied, surprised by his own cheerfulness. "I don't know how I used to live without this stuff!"

"I don't suppose a robot like you would know how to make pancakes?" She asked.

"I barely even know what a pancakes is, much less how to make one." He admitted.

" Alright, so can you cut those carrots up for me instead? I gotta get this soup done before anyone shows up."

He glanced over at the table. He had cut some stuff up for Courage's food back on the farm. He'd just been following what he thought were proper directions but Courage had acted like it was poison.

He walked over and picked up the knife. He'd been metal the last time he touched one. What if he accidentally chopped his fingers off? He still needed those for this body to remain useful...

He picked up a carrot and stared at it. Why did all food look so funny? What was the purpose of a carrot growing to be so colorful? Did it taste as orange as it looked? He didn't dare try but it still puzzled him.

He placed the carrot back down and picked up the knife again. To say that it looked sharp would be an understatement. It almost reminded him of the ax which had almost cleaved him in two. Was this safe for him to use this? He was no master of humanoid dexterity so he hated to think what would happen if he messed up.

Well, he didn't want to get on this Nina girl's bad side, so...

He raised the thing into the air. Partly squinting, he brought it down onto the carrot. He squeezed his eyes shut and expected pain to start shooting up his arm. It did not. He opened them again and was surprised to find that his fingers were intact.

He had completely missed the carrot though...

He tried again, this time keeping both his eyes open and his paws steady. He made the first cut into the carrot and could have almost cheered. This wasn't so hard! Several minutes later he had all the carrots chopped up and his fingers were still intact.

"Done!" He said, finding himself smiling yet again before squashing it angrily. It was just carrots after all...

"I'll take them." Nina said, placing them into a bowl. "It's a good thing we don't get very many customers or else we wouldn't have this done on time."

"Why bother with all this fancy work?" He asked. "Can't you just do something simple?"

"Dad always says that since we hardly get any customers we should do everything we can to leave a good impression."

"That still doesn't make sense. Why make a banquet when nobody is around?"

"Just more leftovers for us!" She laughed.

The Nina girl got to work on pancakes and sent him out into the lobby with them. Two people were already sitting at a table munching on doughnuts. He had a lingering suspicion that the guy on the left was probably the person who had hit him with the door...

He eyed down a doughnut himself. They smelled...good? He wasn't sure but this dog's mind seemed to be telling him that. Did he really want to risk it? No, but this dog's stomach seemed to urging him forward. He was slowly becoming aware of a strange pain in his stomach that gnawed at like acid.

He reached up and grabbed one. He was just making his way over to a table when he saw the very last thing he wanted to see. Courage was walking up to the door...

He dropped the doughnut and tore out of the room as fast as his paws would take him. Once he was down the hall he all but collapsed into the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Nina asked. "No need to run around like that."

"H-hide...me.." He gasped between breaths.

"What?"

"Just...shut up...and hide me..."

"You're fine." She spoke, kneeling down beside him. "Nobody is going to come back here without permission."

She had a point...

Perhaps he _was_ safe back here. He forced himself to calm down and attempted to close the kitchen door just to be safe. A bell rang from the lobby and he nearly crashed into the opposite wall. So much for staying calm...

"You don't have to freak out. What's the problem? Who did you see out there?" She asked.

"My friend is back. You mustn't tell him I'm here, okay?"

"Alright, but I don't see why this is such a big deal..."

"Just do it! I don't want him to know where I am right now!"

"Okay, okay! I've got it!" She headed out into the lobby.

He followed her up to a certain point. He was still hidden from anyone in the lobby but he wanted to hear what Courage had to say.

"Need something?" He heard Nina ask.

"My friend, have you seen him anywhere? He looks like me but he's blue and..." The dog's voice was trembling, like he were on the verge of tears. "Please, I've been looking everywhere for him..."

Computer found himself sneering at the thought of it. Stupid twit! Who was he to...

He stopped that thought and sighed. He head back into the kitchen, this wasn't worth getting angry over. He'd eventually have to show himself to the twit again. They still had the journey to make and he he still had to...

Wait, he didn't _need_ to do anything...

He was surprisingly happy here and part of him didn't want to leave. He didn't have to go back and he didn't have save Courage either. He didn't owe the dog anything. Courage practically owed him for all the help he'd given!

Yes, the more he thought about it the more he liked it. Three years, he had about three good years left. He could spend it here and not waste it on Courage. Heck, in this body he could think about Him without his system crashing, perhaps it would slow the destabilization of his system too. It might not amount to much more then five or six years but that was still five or six years he could spend really _living_.

Why on earth should he even consider going back to Courage? What did he have waiting for him there? Another whack across the head? More lies from that twit who was trying to string him along? The eventual thing he would have to face at the well...

Of course...this was an incredibly cruel thing to do. He was leaving Courage to die after all. The dog would probably go back to the farm and then they'd probably have him...

No, that wasn't his business anymore. Why should he care about what happened to Courage? The stupid twit certainly didn't care about him. He did feel bad, of course, but why should he give up the rest of his life for a dog who didn't care about him when he could be living a real life like this?

He had freedom now! Real freedom! He could leave any owner he so pleased. He could just get up and go! No more dealing with awful people just because he was immobile. Of course he had promised Courage that he hadn't been planning on walking out on him but...

Forget Courage! He was the one always telling him to move on! Well, if he had to confront the dog about it he'd just tell him that he was moving on from _him _as well. No more attics, no more terrible owners, no more immobility, he was truly his own person now!

Nina re-entered the room. "Hey, your friend is pretty worried about you. Don't you want to go talk to him? I'm sure he's feeling pretty bad about giving you that bump."

"Forget about him!" He spoke, crossing his arms. "I certainly am."

"If you say so..." She replied, seemingly unconvinced.

"I do have something I want to say though." He said. He almost couldn't believe he was about to say what he was.

"Oh?" She asked, making her way back over to the stove.

"I think I would like to be your dog after all."

She nearly dropped the pan she was holding. "R-really?"

"Positive."

She raced forward and the next thing he knew he was being crushed. "Woo hoo! I can't believe this! My very own robot dog!"

"This is nice and all, but can you stop crushing me?" He asked, somehow managing to find air to speak. "And for the last time! I am not a robot!"

"I'm going to have to tell dad when he wakes up! And you'll need a name too!"

"I'm already working on finding a name."

"I know a bunch of really cool robot names!"

"I don't want a robot name! I'll figure one out myself!"

"You sure? I thought owners get to name their pets?" She replied with a sly grin.

"Not on your life, kid!"

End Of Chapter


	53. Guilt

Chapter 53: Guilt

"Bigfoot is just a big overgrown baby you know. He likes to dance, believe it or not."

"Wait? You know?" She asked. She nearly jumped to her feet again.

They were sitting at the table now, just having finished cleaning up. Nina was eating leftovers, he had decided he'd rather not eat at all. His stomach was pleading with him for food but he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his new owner. The last time he ate it had ended badly and he had a feeling it would end badly here too if he tried. He took to sipping at his coffee and it seemed to quell the worst of his stomach pain.

"I haven't seen him myself but my friend did. He always seems to attract the weirdest things. He usually tells me about them or else I'm the one who has to help him find a way to overcome them" He took a sip of his coffee. To think, he was never going to help Courage again...

Nina's eyes had all but lit up. "That's so cool! You've got to tell me everything!" She was practically in his face again.

And for the next hour or so he told her everything. Every last misadventure, every strange encounter. If the dog had told him about it he told it to her. He was surprised to find a terrible sense of regret welling up inside him. What was he doing abandoning Courage?

No, he had a new home now! Forget Courage!

Nina enjoyed every last second of it, taking in whatever he said with a belated reverence. She laughed, she asked questions, and above all, she _listened. _He wasn't used to such a thing. He wasn't used to having someone enjoy his presence and hang on to his every word. He knew for a fact that Courage didn't like having to put up with his talking. This girl actually wanted him to speak and it was so strange to him. It was so unlike all of his other owners...

"So then I told him he had to lick the fungus!" He laughed. "You should have seen the look on his face! It was priceless! I wish I had taken a picture because if I had arms, _that _is the sort of thing I'd hang up on the wall!"

That nagging sense of regret struck him again. He wasn't ever going to see that attic again, he wasn't ever going to save Courage from the even the most stupidest threats again...

"Sounds like you two were pretty close." Nina said, causing him to nearly choke on his coffee.

"Hardly!" He spat. "That stupid twit never cared about me! He only needed me for my help!"

"That didn't seem to be the case before. He's really worried about you, you know. He practically burst into tears when I told him I didn't know where you are."

He found himself shifting uncomfortably but then he buried his guilt. "It's his own fault! If he really cared he wouldn't have cracked my skull open!" He spat bitterly.

None the less, he quickly found himself wresting with his own feelings. It didn't take him long to start having doubts about all of this. He couldn't just abandon Courage. He was his frie...well, wasn't so sure anymore.

He had seen what that illness was like for Courage when he had gotten sick. The final stages of the disease were just like that, only worse. He couldn't leave the dog to that fate. He'd been so nice to him lately too...

He wasn't sure if anything Courage had said lately was true and while his cynical side was utterly convinced that the dog was lying, he still felt an overwhelming need to stick by his side. Courage was where he belonged, Courage was his only real friend. This girl was nice but he was only a 'robot dog' to her, he was a pet first and a friend second. Courage saw him as an equal, not just a talking computer with a bad attitude, like so many of his other owners had. He wasn't sure why, but after both the events of the forest and the old abandoned house he now felt a strange sort of loyalty to the dog. Perhaps he had always been this loyal to him. There were plenty of times he could have betrayed the dog and left him and his family to their fate but he never had. He enjoyed giving Courage trouble but he wasn't heartless. He could never...

What was he doing? This _was_ about the most heartless thing he could do...

Courage would _never _abandon him and yet here he was doing exactly that to the dog. No matter how much they disliked each other, if something had happened during all those years they had worked together he would have saved him just like he would have done for Muriel and Eustace. It was just the kind of person Courage was. It was how he made friends with all the people who opposed him. It was how he won over even the most cynical monster.

Was this really how he wanted to live out the remainder of his life? Wouldn't it be better to use what little life he had left doing something that he would be appreciated for? If he continued to live here he'd simply cease up and die one day. If he helped Courage he would at least be remembered for something.

The very least he could do was go talk to the dog. He couldn't leave him wandering around looking for him all day. Part of him feared the prospect of going near the dog again but he knew he was only being overly distrustful. It was an ingrained habit after all, and he had every reason to be distrustful of his owners. His fear could not be helped though, he'd have to overcome it just like everything else. He'd use this little talk as the deciding factor. Whatever Courage would say, however he would act, this would prove how he really felt and if he could really be trusted.

As much as he hated it, he could not forget all the kind things the dog had done for him. He had no idea if any of it was true but he desperately wanted to believe it was real. For all the time he had spent with Courage over the years he couldn't help but be convinced that the dog was as kind as he seemed. If Courage was really cruel he would have thrown him after the whole Mega Muriel thing. And even more importantly, he didn't think of think of him as a broke, useless computer despite all the evidence to contrary. He wanted his misconceptions about the dog to be wrong. He wanted to be able to trust him.

On the other side of things, he didn't want to give this up. He was happy here. He could not abandon Courage but he didn't want to leave this either. There were so many thing to do, see, and learn as an organic creature. He had a truly kind owner, someone like the dog's Muriel. He'd never get bored here like he was as a normal computer. He didn't have to sit up in a dreary old attic all day.

For the first time a deep resentment ran through him. Why couldn't he have been born a normal person? Couldn't somebody else have taken his place as some stupid sentient machine? No, this was not something worth resenting, he realized. He wouldn't have been able to appreciate this if he had been born a human. He'd be taking it all for granted right now just like everyone else.

How would Nina react if he suddenly took back his offer to be her pet? Would she get angry? Would she try to stop him? Maybe she'd understand?

He dug his paws deeper into his chair. Nina had been talking for several minutes now but his mind had been in a completely different place the whole time. He needed to make his choice soon. He wished he could keep living here for just a few more day so that he could really get to enjoy it, but he knew that it would be cruel to Nina to leave after just a few days and Courage wouldn't keep looking for him forever. He also knew that if he stayed longer he'd probably never want to leave. It was better to go now before he truly got to loving this place and would have to force himself to leave.

Perhaps he really was misjudging Courage. He had tried to stay up with him last night purely out of friendship. He didn't have to do it for him and yet he had. He had put up with his snippy attitude and stuck with him even as he pushed him away. Could that really have been a lie?

He had listened to him back in the forest, hadn't judge him for being weak, he had even been sympathetic. He had helped him pull through the worst of memories and even helped him try to overcome them once and for all. He didn't mind his incredibly unpleasant personality and didn't ask him to change either. He didn't think of him as useless even when it was painfully obvious that he was. He had stayed with him even when he knew he was going to get yelled at for it. Courage had put up with the worst of his personality and yet he had somehow found some good beneath it all.

He had promised the dog that he'd be kinder to him from now on, as a payment of sorts, or perhaps even as an apology. It was the least he could do for him, but what was he doing now? Abandoning him to his fate, of course! How could he even consider being so cruel? Didn't Courage deserve better than that?

He knew what was coming, the thing with the well wasn't going to be pleasant. He'd pull through for Courage and perhaps he'd appreciate him for it in the end. It would be his apology. Yes, this would be his way of apologizing for being such a despicable 'person', if he could even be called a person. This was the only way he could make it up to the dog for all the years of mistreatment he had given him.

"Are you okay?" Nina asked, waving a paw in front of his face. "You've been zoned out forever now."

"I..." His ears began to droop without him realizing it. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

"You can take a nap if you want." She replied. "I'm not going to need your help with anything right now."

"Sorry but..." He stopped himself. How on earth was he going to say this? "I think I might leave after all. I don't think I've completely made up my mind yet but I'd like to talk to my friend first. If I stay here I'm pretty much abandoning him and I'm not sure if I'm completely willing to do that yet. Once I talk to him I'll figure out what I want."

He had expected her to be angry or at least upset, but she was not. "Are you sure?" She asked. "I don't want to keep you here if you have a home to go back to and I'm sure your family would miss you a lot. Don't you at least like it here though?"

"W-wha?" He asked in surprise. He shook his head. "I do like it here! It's just that my friend is sick and I promised I'd help him. If I stay here he would die. I don't think I'd ever forgive myself if I let that happen."

"So that's what this is all about? Why didn't you say so sooner?" She asked. "I especially can't keep you here if your friend is sick."

"I didn't think it mattered." He admitted. "We got into a fight last night and I decided to run away. The more I think about it the more I realize it was a stupid mistake to make. I don't think he actually meant any harm and..."

"It's okay." She interrupted, raising a finger. "After you help him, do you think you could come back?"

He glanced downward. "I don't think so...sorry. I really wish I could but I don't have much time left and the dog needs me. Twits will be twits after all..."

She smiled. "I think you've already made up your mind."

"Perhaps..." He sighed. "But perhaps not. I would like to stay here for a little while longer though. I'll talk to him later but until then I want to keep being your 'robot dog'." He caught himself smiling again but didn't bother to stop himself this time.

"I'm glad! You can keep telling me about all the weird stuff you and your friend have seen!"

"Wait..." He muttered, a thought crossing his mind. "I can't get to my real body right now but the dog _has _written about all the weird stuff that has happened to him. I have it all stored on my hard drive and if you can get past his terrible grammar you might like it. I'll see to it that he eventually gets you a copy."

"Really? J-just how much stuff is on there?" She asked in awe. She almost seemed to swoon at the prospect having so many first person accounts of the supernatural.

"Tons! I'm the one who had to sit through him writing it!" He replied unenthusiastically. He cringed the thought of it. Every time Courage updated his memoirs it was an exercise of patience for him. The dog was a terrible writer and he almost couldn't stand to have such atrocities sitting on his hard drive. It _was _the only way Courage kept him updated on the recent going-ons though.

"So what did you mean when you said you didn't have much time left?" She asked, surprising him.

"Oh, well..." He shifted uncomfortably. "All machines eventually break down just like all you flesh creatures eventually die. One of my old owners broke me pretty bad a long time ago. Now I'm falling apart much quicker than normal. It won't be very long before I shut down for good, so I..."

He was cut off as she picked him up and hugged him. He was at a complete loss of words. It was...comforting. It didn't stop the fact that his death was closing in on him but it did help take away some of his fear. Perhaps he was finally beginning to understand what this whole hugging thing was about..,

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She murmured. "I don't know much about robots but if there is anything I can do to help, please tell me!"

He somehow managed to choke out a weak laugh. "I told you already, I'm not a robot! "His voice had become surprisingly strained. "As much as I wish someone could, nobody can help me. It's just the way things are. I got to live far longer than I should have and while it always hasn't been pleasant I am happy to have made it this far."

She placed him back down on the chair. "Hold on just a sec." She said, running off into the lobby.

She returned with a piece of paper. She wrote something down on it and ripped that part off before shoving it into his paws. He glanced down at it and blinked. It was an email address. He looked back up at her, confused.

She smiled. "Don't tell me the self proclaimed 'not a robot' computer doesn't have an email address?"

The truth was, he didn't. He never had anyone to email before.

"You gotta keep me up to date on all the weird stuff that's going on! You can do that, can't you? At least until the end? I wouldn't want you to be alone all that time."

He found himself smiling sadly. "O-of course!"

The truth was, he wasn't even sure he could run his email program anymore. Courage had used it couple of times several years ago doing stupid thing like 'calling' the police through email. He was almost certain his system had degraded to a point where he wouldn't be able to run it properly anymore. Of course, it didn't really matter though, he'd never be able to...

He pushed that thought away before he could finish it. He didn't need his sense of inferiority getting him down too. He wanted to believe that he still had a choice to stay here with Nina but he knew that the choice had already been made, as much as he hated to admit it. He was going back with Courage. The thought depressed him considerably but he knew he was doing the right thing. Courage didn't deserve to die and he wasn't going to do so because of him.

Despite coming to his decision, he was still going to act like he was planning on staying when he finally talked to Courage. He wanted to see how the dog would react. This would be the thing that would finally prove to him if Courage was really genuine in his kindness. He knew it wasn't the nicest thing to do but he would never be able to trust him completely without knowing first.

"Hey, do you think you could do something for me?" Nina asked, pulling him out of his thoughts yet again. "Your a computer so maybe you can help me with ours?"

"What's wrong with it?" He asked.

"I'm not sure but me and dad are not really that good with computers. It hasn't worked correctly for almost as long as we've had it. I only really use it for emails myself."

He almost could have laughed. "You have no idea what sort of horrors we computers have to face in the hands of inexperienced users. Trust me, I know from experience."

"Can you teach me how to use one?"

"I can try but hopefully you're a better learner than someone else I know..."

"Good! I promise you can have as much coffee as you want if you do this!"

They finished breakfast and she led him into one of the rooms. It housed a computer that was somehow even more ancient than he was. He couldn't even recognize the brand!

He hopped into the chair and got to work. It almost took ten minutes for the machine just to get to the desktop. Part of him just wanted to put the poor thing out of its misery. He could almost sense the thing begging for death. It was so old he wasn't even sure how it was working anymore. This grandpa of a computer was showing him up!

"Oh boy, this thing doesn't even have anti virus..." He muttered weakly.

"Is that bad?" Nina asked.

"This is going to be a lot harder than I though..."

Looking through it a bit he realized just what terrible shape it was in. He was already considering doing the dreaded 'reformat'. It seemed like that was the only thing he could do to get this poor computer running at proper speeds again.

"Ugh, I hate to break it to you kid but I think your dad knows the true meaning of rule thirty four..."

"Rule what?"

"Never mind, you don't want to know. Oh for the love of...it's taking up half the space on here! Your dad has one heck of a por...DON'T LOOK" He yelped, nearly falling out of the chair trying to push her away. "That's it! This computer isn't salvageable! I'm reformatting it!"

What he really wanted to do was smash the thing to pieces and pour holy water on it...

What was that one thing with the girls and the cup doing on here!

The girl didn't seem to understand why his mouth seemed to be progressively dropping further with every click. He had traversed some of the seriously darker parts of the internet back in his day but her dad was into some seriously weird crap...

"What's reformatting?" She asked.

"It'll get this computer working again." He replied, glad for an excuse to pry his eyes away from the screen. "Your dad doesn't know anything about computers right?"

"Not a thing."

"Good! First thing I'm putting on here once the formatting is done is parental controls. Hopefully he never figures it out..."

He hated to think what kind of viruses were probably eating this machine alive right now. Reformatting it was practically a mercy kill at this point.

"Don't worry gramps, it will all be over soon." He said to the machine as he initiated the reformat. "Soon you won't have to remember any of the horrors you've witnessed."

"You look like your about to hug the thing. It's just a computer you know."

He glared at her.

"Oh! Sorry! I forgot!"

"Whatever..." He sighed.

"You two look like your having a touching moment. Do you want me to leave?"

"Ugh, it's fine!" He grumbled.

"So, do you think you could make her a girl computer now?" She asked

"W-WHAT?" He gasped, whipping around.

"Can't you make her talk like you?"

"N-no! Of course not!"

"Why not? Can't you do whatever it is that makes you able to talk?"

"I'm not sure why I can talk and I certainly can't do it to another computer. Besides, I technically don't have a gender anyway, much less grandpa over here! He wouldn't be a girl even if he could!"

"Yes he would! And you seem like a guy to me! "

"A masculine personality does not equal gender! If I had my real body here all I would have to do is change my voice and you wouldn't even know the difference! Machines don't have genders!" He crossed his arms. "Especially not girly ones!"

"I don't think you'd make a very good woman anyway..." She said trying not to laugh.

His eyes narrowed. "Just don't get any funny ideas, kid!"

"But I thought you said gender doesn't matter?" She asked, laughing. "You wouldn't have a problem turning into a girl since you aren't technically a guy either. You would do it for me, wouldn't you?"

"I don't want to be a girl, thank you very much! You can keep your dolls and your ponies and your whatever else to yourself!"

"Awww but having another girl around would be nice! You'd make a terrible girl but a girl is still better than a boy! You can't make this computer talk and you don't want to change genders either so I'm stuck!"

"And I plan on keeping it that way!" He yelled. "Ugh, flesh creatures!"

"Ugh, computers!" She groaned at the same time. "All I wanted was another girl to talk to and all I get is Mr. Grumpy Robot over here!"

He crossed his arms. "Better a grumpy robot than a girly machine!" He argued back.

End Of Chapter


	54. The Confrontation

Chapter 54: The Confrontation

Computer spent the next several hours getting the old computer back up and running. He used that time to teach Nina how to use it properly. It felt like he was doing a service for his brethren by making sure there was one less tech illiterate person in the world. He wished he had more time to teach her because she seemed to soak up everything with ease. It was a shame the twit wasn't into this sort of thing, he could learn a lot himself.

Nina's dad soon got up and she introduced him to the aged ferret. He was pretty nice despite his..er, 'interesting' internet habits. He was perfectly welcoming and didn't seem opposed to the idea of having a dog around.

Not a lot happened for the rest of the morning. Noon quickly rolled around and Computer found himself surprised at how fast time was going by. He knew he was stalling his eventual meet up with Courage but he didn't mind it. He was certainly giving the twit some time to get his priorities straight and hopefully this would accumulate into making sure he didn't get whacked across the head again.

"You haven't eating anything yet today." Nina was telling him as they got ready for lunch. "Don't robot dogs have to eat too?"

"Eh, I'm not exactly fond of eating." He admitted with a shrug.

"How can you be?" She asked. "Eating is fun and it tastes good too! All you gotta do is make sure you don't eat too much."

"Courage pretty much told me the same thing too..." He grumbled. "I'd rather not risk choking again though."

"Choke? Most people don't choke when they eat. Did you?" She asked.

"Pretty much..."

"You should try again once lunch is ready." She demanded. "You might start to like it."

He shook his head. "I'd rather not."

"You can't go forever without eating! It's just like sleeping! You've gotta do both!"

"I'd rather do without..." He grumbled. "I really hate all the things you organic cre..."

"Hey," Nina's dad said, poking his head into the kitchen and interrupting him. "That other dog is in the lobby right now."

"You gonna go talk to him?" Nina asked.

He was certain his internal organs had just twisted up into a knot. "I'll wait until he goes back outside. I'd rather not get into an argument with him in here."

"Argument?" She asked.

"We fight a lot, haven't you noticed?" He said, pointing to his head.

Without warning Nina picked him up and hugged him again. He was once again rendered silent by the gesture.

"Tell him he can have lunch with us if he wants to." She said weakly. It was obvious that she didn't want him to go...

"I'll try and ask but I think he's going to be pretty angry with me after this."

"Just don't let him crack your head open again, okay?"

"I can try." He replied, laughing sadly. "Twits will unfortunately be twits..."

The next ten minutes were probably some of the hardest he had ever endured. What was the dog doing that was taking so long? He knew there were still some doughnuts left in the lobby so maybe the dog was having a late breakfast. As far as he knew Courage hadn't returned to eat after Nina had talked with him that morning.

He waited in the hallway, keeping just far enough away so that no one could see him from the main lobby. He had taken a risk and looked out twice. Courage was doing terrible. He seemed exhausted and on the verge of tears. He keep his head down and his ears drooped. Computer would have gone out right there but he wasn't sure how the dog would react to his sudden reappearance and he didn't want to get into a fight with him while he was so close to Nina.

The dog was indeed eating a few leftovers they had left out in the lobby. The whole place was deserted at the moment. Nobody had shown up to rent a room since they themselves had done so last night. Nina talked to a few people leaving early this morning but that was it. One did not get a lot of business in a place like Nowhere.

Finally after what felt like forever, Courage got up and left. As soon as the door closed he took to the pursuit and followed him. This was it, it was time to see how Courage really felt about him.

He braced himself for the worst.

"Here goes nothing..." He muttered before opening the door.

Courage had already gotten halfway across the parking lot before he joined him. The dog gave a small little jump when he heard the door close. Computer waited for him to turn around and he did.

Courage's eyes seemed to light up at the sight of him. He had expected the dog to say something but he did not. Courage closed the distance between them and the next thing he knew he was almost tackled do the ground.

The dog was all but crushing him in a hug. "I've been looking all over for you!" He said happily. "I thought you left! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Computer steeled himself for what he was about to say. Part of him didn't even want to do this anymore, it would just hurt Courage needlessly. He was genuinely surprised by how the dog was acting, he had not expected this. He had expected anger, or worse.

"Go home, Courage." He said.

No faltering now, he had to make sure he was convincing.

"W-what?" Courage gasped, gazing up into his eyes.

His expression was of both mild anger and complete determination. He wanted to remain expressionless but he knew he'd slip up if he did.

"Go home." He repeated. "I've decided that I'm staying here."

Courage gazed up at him with an expression of complete bewilderment. He seemed to be at a complete loss of words. Every attempt he made to talk just came out as breathless air. It was like his brain could not comprehend the words that had just been spoken.

"Computer...what are you...h-huh?" He managed to stutter out hopelessly.

"I've made a new friend and she wants me to stay here. I've decided that I like it here so I offered to be her pet. She's my new owner now."

The dog's eyes seemed to be filling with tears. "But Computer, what about fixing my...m-my..."

Computer allowed his eyes to narrow. "That's your own problem now. I suppose you should have thought about that before you tried to crack my head open."

The dog's watery eyes slowly moved upwards until they fell upon his bandaged head. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Sorry isn't good enough anymore!" He yelled. "I have a real owner who cares about me now, so go home!"

He was finding genuine anger over how Courage had been treating him. He wasn't really angry anymore but he could still drum up those emotions for this act.

Courage let go of him and backed up several steps. Tears were rolling down his face. "Computer, don't you want to...don't you like...oh no..." He whimpered. The full implications of what was happening seemed to be slowly dawning on him.

Computer crossed his arms. "I don't like being with you, I _hate _being with you!" He spat. "I have a real home now! I don't have to see some stupid attic wall ever again! I don't have to spend all my time being bored, being alone, and especially being _lonely_! I don't have to put up with you anymore or anything you put me through! I can't believe I bought into all that crap about us being friends! We never were! You were just using me the whole time! Just like all my other owners! At the end of the day I'm just a computer for you to boss around and that's it!"

His words were surprisingly genuine. He was voicing a lot of the thing that frustrated him and a lot of the things he often suspected of Courage. Even now a large part of him didn't want to go back with him.

The dog seemed to be stunned to silence by his words. He just stood there trembling, tears running down his face. It was a sorry sight and he really did feel bad for it. He was waiting for the dog to get angry, or worse. He was expecting it. Courage wasn't just going to let him ditch him without saying or doing something about it first.

"But what about my illness?" He whimpered out. "I-I need your help. You...you said you would'nt abandon me...I...I."

"Find somebody else to save your worthless hide! I don't want anything to do with you anymore! I don't owe you anything and I don't have to do anything for you!"

Come on, get mad! He was waiting, expecting, getting ready for the worst but the dog just stood there and cried. He was seemingly crushed and that was far worse for him to endure than waiting for the dog to get angry.

"I'm sorry, Computer. A-are you really that happy here?" He asked weakly.

Computer blinked. "Yes, yes I am. I've spent some time with the people who live here and I want to stay. They want me to stay too. These people actually want me around for a change."

"B-but I do want you around too!" The dog argued weakly.

"Correction! You want me to help you, that's all!" He snarled. "If you didn't have to put up with me to get the help you need you'd do so!"

"N-no...I.."

"You don't want me around because I'm just an inconvenience!" He spat, his tone coming off far more bitter than he intended it to.

"That's not true!" He finally yelled. "Please don't stay here! You've already got a home! You belong with us! You're family!"

"No I'm not! And I am not going back with you!"

He expected the fighting to begin now but it did not.

Courage closed his eyes. "Are you really that happy here?" He asked for a second time.

"Yes! And I'm staying here! I'm actually appreciate for a change and I am not giving that up!"

"Can you wait here just a second?" Courage asked. He had stopped crying, there was almost a calm acceptance about him.

He found himself blinking with surprise at Courage's request. What was he up to?

"I-I guess..." He muttered out. "What are you doing?"

"Just wait here." Courage replied, turning around and heading over to their room.

A wave of fear washed over him. He was going back to get the pan! He considered the possibility of going back inside and asking Nina for help. Courage wouldn't dare attack two people! The dog had nothing left to lose now and he was probably planning on going down with a fight.

He cringed, unsure of what to do. This is what he had been going for. He had wanted to prove to himself that Courage wasn't really as kind as he seemed. No, he had been trying to prove to himself that Courage _was _as kind as he hoped but now it was clear that he was not. This was what he had so desperately wished wasn't true. He'd have to face the dog head on, just like everything else. No running away this time.

The dog came running back. There was something in his paws but it wasn't the pan. His face was filled with a grim acceptance that only helped to confuse Computer even further.

What was going on? He took several steps back. What was Courage going to do? He wasn't sure what was in the dogs paws but several unpleasant possibilities ran through his head.

Courage thrust the thing into his arms. He glanced down at it. It was the yo-yo he had give him all that time ago. It was the supposedly lucky one. Were he somewhere else right now he would have flat out told the dog that the thing wasn't lucky at all. In fact he probably would have told him that it was probably cursed and was the cause for why the farm was always under attack.

Now it was his turn to be temporarily stunned. "Why are you..."

"Promise you won't forget about me?" Courage asked, giving him a soft but surprisingly sad smile.

"W-wha..." He couldn't find a single word to say. The dog was just going to let him go? No arguments, no pleading, no _anything_?

Courage seemed to sense his thoughts. "If you want to stay here, I can't stop you. If these people really make you that happy then I wouldn't want to take them away from you. I'm not going to force you to do anything. If you really are happy here than I'm happy for you too!" His voice trembled with those last few words and he was still fighting back tears despite his smile.

Computer almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stood there with his mouth hung open, unsure of what to say to the dog. Where was the anger? Where was the fighting? This was not what he had expected. Courage was just...accepting this?

"Please don't forget about me." He said while continuing to smile. "If you really don't want to see me again that's fine but m-maybe you let me visit once in awhile? I mean, I'm probably not going to be around much longer but...but..." He broke down into weak sobs.

"Courage..." He found himself muttering out.

He was wrong, completely wrong. Courage wasn't stringing him along at all, the dog was genuine. All those thing he had said, he had meant them, all of them...

Courage turned, still sobbing. He began walking away. He looked back one last time to say, "Thank you for everything, Compute. I'm glad you've found a place where you belong and where you're happy, you deserve it."

He let the yo-yo fall to the ground with a clatter. _'He wants me to be happy?'_ He thought. _'H-he doesn't even care if he dies just so long as I'm happy?'_

"Hold on!" He yelled.

He raced forward and stopped Courage from continuing. "I didn't mean any of that! Well, I was planning on staying here but then I decided that I was going to keep my promise. I'm going to keep helping you! I only put you through all that because I needed to be sure."

Courage slowly gazed up at him. He didn't seem convinced. "Needed to be sure of what?"

"That I could really trust you and that you were really my friend. Sorry, I keep misjudging you over and over again. I didn't mean to doubt you, it's just that it's very difficult for me to trust..."

Courage cut him off. "Y-your still going to help me?"

"Yes, yes! I promise! I do want to stay here but I'm not about to let you die."

Courage looked down and began to sob again. What was he still crying about? Everything was going to be alright now...

"Come on, dog. You don't have to keep crying." He spoke.

"I-I thought you were going to leave me to die! Why'd you have to do that to me!" He sobbed. "I spent the whole day looking for you! I thought you'd gone away and I didn't know where to look anymore! I was so worried, you know!"

"Look, my friend offered you lunch if you want it but I don't think she'd want to see you bawling like that. It's going to be alright, twit."

Courage nearly tipped him over a second time as he threw him into another hug. He continued to cry, much to Computer's annoyance.

"It's alright, Courage. Everything's going to be fine now, so please stop crying."

"S-sorry..." He muttered but his sobbing did not let up.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have strung you along like that, sorry."

He meant it. Had he known Courage would take it this badly he would have never...

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Courage continued to mutter between incoherent sobs.

"Fine, how about you promise not to crack my head open again and we'll call it even?" He replied, trying to remain light-hearted.

To think, Courage was actually willing to let him go so long as it made him happy. He almost couldn't believe it. How stupid he was to doubt how much the dog actually cared about him. Yes, he knew now without a doubt that Courage was worth saving...

End Of Chapter


	55. Love (Is Not) In The Air

Chapter 55: Love (Is Not) In The Air

Courage found himself unable to stop crying. He was both happy, sad, and even a bit angry with Computer. The entire morning had already been completely traumatic for him and Computer's sudden desire to leave had wreaked him completely.

He had thought that he had left and he had looked everywhere for him. He'd all but given up before he suddenly reappeared like he hadn't been gone at all. Being told to go home had crushed him. He couldn't believe that Computer had actually been planning on leaving him to his fate. He was so glad that it wasn't the truth.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was surprised that Computer liked it here. He was glad that he wasn't staying but he almost felt betrayed that he would rather be here instead. In the end he would have to accept what Computer wanted. If he wanted to go back after all this was over, he'd have to let him go. If this was what really made him happy than who was he to try and stop him? Computer deserved a chance to be happy and if this was where he really felt like he belonged, he would have to accept it for his sake. It didn't make him feel any better but if Computer was happy then he would be happy for him too.

"For the last time, dog. It's going to be alright." He spoke. There was an unusual amount of sympathy in his voice. He appeared to truly feel bad over what he had done.

Courage managed to stifle his tears. He kept sniffing and it took a lot of effort not to break down sobbing again but he somehow managed to get his emotions back under control.

"S-sorry..." He muttered for what felt like the millionth time.

"You haven't had any problems while I was gone?" Computer asked. "Your fever hasn't acted up, has it? No attacks or blackouts? You haven't been hurting at all?"

"I-I'm fine..."

"Good, good!" He replied sounding relieved. "We should go inside, I don't want to keep my friend waiting much longer or else she might think I've ditched her too."

"Alright." Courage spoke, rubbing his eyes down.

The machine gave him a surprisingly warm smile. "Are you going to keep answering me like that or are you actually going to start talking again?" He asked.

"Sorry, I'm still a bit shaken up." He admitted quietly.

"Well, don't be." He said. He grabbed him by an arm and lead him into the building.

They went through the lobby and the owner gave Computer a passive nod as they went by. He were acting as though they already knew each other...

They went through a hallway that was connected to the main office and stopped once they reached the kitchen. A humanoid ferret stood there in her pajamas. Courage recognized her as the girl he had talked to when he was still looking for Computer. Had she really lied to him?

Her eyes lit up the moment she saw the two of them. She raced forward and picked Courage up. He was almost crushed as she drew him into a painful hug.

"You must be Courage." She said.

"Y-yeah!" He choked out. He felt like his ribs were cracking.

She let him go and placed him back down on the floor. She seemed to be smiling almost sadly at him, there was a lot of sympathy in her eyes. He realized that he must have looked like he had been crying...

Computer elbowed him in his side. "Her name is Nina."

Nina seemed to have forgotten to introduce herself. She dropped to her knees and got so close that both of their muzzles were almost touching. "Your friend told me about you! You've gotta tell me about everything you've seen! I want a first hand account!" Her eyes were practically ablaze with joy.

Courage took several wary steps back. He gave her a confused look and turned to Computer. The machine shrugged as though this were no big deal.

"She likes the supernatural so I told her about all the things you've been through." He said.

"And you've gotta tell me all about it yourself!" She added. "He only knows about the things you've told him directly. Well, except for that one time he ran around in your owner's body. He could tell me everything about that one."

Courage gave Computer a shocked expression. "You actually told her what you really are?"

"Yeah." He said with another shrug. "I didn't see any reason not to. I thought she wouldn't believe me."

Courage was surprised that he had actually shared the fact he was a computer with anyone, much less tell them about the time he had run around in Muriel's body. Just what the heck had gone on while he was gone? He must really, truly trust this girl...

"I'm sorry about lying to you before." Nina said. "He made me promise not to tell you where he was."

"It's alright." He replied with smile. "Just promise not to listen to him next time."

"H-hey!" Computer interjected.

"Well, Courage." Nina spoke. "I'm about to make some sandwiches if you want one."

He placed a paw on his stomach. All he'd eaten today was a few doughnuts, he was pretty hungry...

"Sure." He replied, accepting her offer.

The next couple of minutes were almost surreal to him. The way Computer interacted and talked with this girl was so unlike himself that Courage was left wondering if this was a completely different person he was seeing. He spoke to her without any of the usual bitterness or sarcasm, laughed and went along with whatever jokes she made, and his expression was often devoid of any of the usual glumness he was so accustom to.

All Courage could do was stand there with his mouth hanging open and his mind in complete disbelief. Computer really _was _happy here. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. Why couldn't _he_ get him to act like that? If only he could get Computer to...

"What are you doing just standing around looking like an idiot?" Computer asked, startling him. "At least sit down if your going to stand there with your mouth hanging open. What's your problem anyway?"

Courage shook his head. "N-nothing! Nothing!"

He raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."

"I'm going to need some celery." Nina spoke.

"I'm on it!" He replied.

Courage followed him over to the fridge. The machine stared into it for several seconds, seemingly confused. He reached a paw in but stopped half way. His expression turned to mild frustration much to Courage's amusement. He reached in and grabbed the celery for him.

"This is celery." He told him as he handed it over.

Computer glared at him. "Don't patronize me! I know what I'm doing!"

"Why were reaching for the spinach then?" Courage asked flatly.

"T-they're both green! All your organic food looks the same to me!"

"I was just trying to be helpful..."

"You're not! Don't make me look like a fool!"

"I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't! Why do you always have to assume the worst in me!"

"I'm not, but I know what you're like! You..."

"STOP FIGHTING!" Nina finally yelled, putting a foot down between them. "You two haven't been in the same room for ten minutes and you're already fighting, geeze!"

"What did I say?" Computer replied with a shrug.

"You started it..." Courage grumbled.

"You're the one who's trying to make me look like an idiot!"

"You're looking like an idiot right now!"

"Don't you dare call me an idiot, you twit!"

"Ah, stop fighting!" Nina yelled for a second time. "You really weren't kidding about this whole fighting thing..." She sighed.

"It's his fault!" Computer snapped, crossing his arms. "He's trying to make me look bad!"

"Make up!" She demanded.

Computer blinked. What?"

"Make up right now!" She demanded for a second time.

"Make up for what? This twit is the reason..."

She grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks.

"NOW!" She yelled, dangling them both in front of her face.

"Ah, fine! It'll do whatever you want, just let go!" Computer yelled. He was flailing around hopelessly as he tried to get her to let go of his neck.

She dropped them both. "Now both of you make up like good friends should."

"Sorry." They both said at the same time but it was obvious that neither of them meant it.

"Ugh, good enough." She sighed.

As soon as she turned around to get back to work on the sandwiches Computer grabbed Courage by the ears and pulled him into the hallway.

"Ouch! Hey!" He yelped. He pulled himself away from Computer and began rubbing his head.

"Listen up!" Computer spoke. "Stop trying to make me look bad! I don't want her thinking I'm not good enough!"

Not this again! He was still going on about that whole 'not good enough' thing? Courage cringed at the thought of it.

"What do you want me to do? Just sit there and act like I don't exist at all?" He asked growing annoyed.

"No! Just...just don't do _that _again!"

"I was only trying to help!"

The machine sighed and ran a paw down his face. "Just let me figure things out myself, okay? I was doing fine on my own. I-I don't want Nina to think I'm, you know, a screw-up."

Courage found himself grinning. "I leave you alone for half a day and you've already gone and got yourself a girlfriend."

The machine gave him a startled glance. "Of course not! S-she's just a kid! I'm old enough to be her grandpa!"

Courage stifled a laugh. "I don't know, it seems to me like you're trying to impress her."

"No way! I'm just trying to..."

"Aww come on, Compute! You don't have to hide your feelings!"

"_Great_ grandpa!" He growled between clenched teeth.

"Maybe she's into er...older computers?" Courage replied, bursting out laughing.

"And that's the other thing! I'm not one of you flesh creatures! I can't just..."

"I'm joking!" He laughed. "If you get to joke about the girl we met at the pound then I get to joke about this!"

"I sincerely hope you are joking!" Computer replied, still sounding alarmed. "You wouldn't like it if I started implying romantic relationships between you and Muriel!"

"Don't even say that!" He yelled. "That's disgusting!"

"Exactly..." The machine sighed.

"I like how you call love, 'romantic relationships'." He laughed.

"Bah! I don't understand the first thing about you flesh creatures and your mating rituals! You've got romantic love, friendship love, family love, sibling love, and all sorts of other love I know next to nothing about! You can keep it all to yourself, I want nothing to do with it!"

"You don't want me to help you get a date?"

"NO! Absolutely not!"

Courage busted out laughing again. "Alright, alright! Fine!"

They both walked back into the kitchen and Nina presented the sandwiches to them. Courage's stomach began to rumble at the sight of them.

"What were you two doing?" She asked as they all sat down.

"Nothing much." Computer replied, his eyes falling on Courage.

He fought back giggles. "Computer just wants you to know that..."

The machine expression became horror-struck and he nearly slid halfway across the table just to clamp his mouth shut before he could finish his sentence.

"Don't...say...a...word." He growled.

"Well, you're not my type anyway." Nina said, completely out of nowhere.

"H-huh..." He gasped in bewilderment. His eyes fell on her and Courage was certain he saw red flushing on his cheeks despite all that blue.

"You two were being so loud that there was no way I couldn't hear." She said with a smile.

Computer all but toppled off the table and crashed onto the floor. Both she and Courage burst out laughing at the sight.

"Oh thank goodness..." The machine sighed.

Courage leaned over his chair. "You're the only person around who would be happy that they just got rejected."

The machine opened an eye and shot a finger up at him. "This is your fault! You're the one who had to go say something so stupid!"

"You were the one who was being loud!"

"I was not!"

"Yes you were!"

"Don't start fighting again, you two!" Nina interjected.

Courage turned away and began munching on his sandwich. He was fully aware there were still two eyes drilling holes into the back of his head but he didn't care. He chuckled quietly to himself. Now Computer had something _he _could make fun of!

End Of Chapter

A/N: Courage has only mastered the art of trolling from the best. Poor Computer is going to regret that. I can safely say we are officially hitting the end game for this fic. It's kinda sad this is almost over after I've been working on it for so long. There still is quite a bit left though so don't worry. I have a feeling this will probably hit seventy chapters before it's over.


	56. The Newest Plan

Chapter 56: The Newest Plan

"You can't keep going without eating!" Nina pressed. "Robot dog or not, you gotta eat something!"

Computer hadn't touched his sandwich. He was gazing down at the thing in disgust.

"You still haven't eaten anything in all this time?" Courage asked.

"I don't want to." He said with a sigh. "I can go without."

"No you can't!" They both said at the same time.

He cringed and looked down at the sandwich again. "I really, _really _don't want to."

"It's just one sandwich." Courage replied. "Eat it and you won't have to eat anything else for awhile."

The machine muttered something under his breath that he did not catch. He suspected it was something sarcastic given the look on his face.

The glowing dog gave a defeated sigh and picked the sandwich up with a distasteful look. He inspected the thing as though it were contaminated and shuttered. He plopped it back down on the plate and crossed his arms.

"Alright, fine." Nina spoke. "No more coffee until you eat something."

"I can go without coffee too." He muttered.

"It's not that big of a deal! Just take one bite!" Courage said with encouragement.

"I took one bite last night and it almost killed me!" He replied.

"No it didn't! You were fine! You're not going to choke!"

"Doesn't your stomach hurt?" Nina asked. "It's gotta be awfully hard to keep going like that. Most people can't concentrate when they're hungry."

He picked the sandwich up again. "Isn't there an easier way to do this?" He asked, staring at the thing with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

"We'd have to start feeding you through a tube!" Courage laughed.

"Bah! Why did you organic creatures have to evolve to take in sustenance like this? It's disgusting!"

Nina took a bite of her sandwich. "I'd rather eat like this than live off electricity like you machines do." She said.

"I'm starting to miss electricity..." He sighed. "At least that didn't require chewing."

Both Nina and Courage laughed at his statement. He glared at them angrily and crossed his arms a second time.

"Stop worrying and eat!" She demanded.

He gave a defeated sigh and picked up the sandwich again. "Stupid organic creatures..." He grumbled and took a bite of the sandwich.

The face he made as he chewed and left both his companions howling with laughter. He shook his head as though he'd just eaten something sour.

"Terrible!" He exclaimed, tossing the rest of his sandwich back on the plate. "If you two idiots are going to sit here and laugh like hyenas then I'm going to go finish this little exercise in torture elsewhere!"

"Just hurry up and finish!" Courage laughed.

"Why, so you two can keep laughing?"

"We can't help it!" Nina replied, giggling loudly. "You just look so funny when you do that!"

The machine slid down into chair, seemingly embarrassed by her laughter.

"Finish that sandwich!" Nina demanded. She was scolding him like a child.

"I'd rather not. I don't want to remain the mockery of you two clowns..." He grumbled.

"Fine! We promise we won't laugh until you finish!" She replied. It was obvious that she was still fighting back laughter.

Courage wasn't doing much better himself. He was only keeping a straight face for Nina's sake and he was barely pulling it off.

"That's not good enough!" Computer demanded. "Turn around, both of you!"

"Isn't this just a little drastic?" Nina asked.

"How can we be sure you won't just get rid of the sandwich while we aren't looking?" Courage added.

"It's either that or I won't eat it at all, you twits!"

"Come on Courage, lets do what the grump wants." Nina spoke, turning around in her chair.

Left being glared at by an angry computer, he wasn't given another choice. He turned around in his chair too and sighed weakly.

Nina elbowed him in the side and giggled. Neither of them turned around but both of them devolved into giggles. Nina pointed behind her and they both began to laugh. Even now this was ridiculously funny.

"Quiet you two!" Computer demanded and they both fell silent again.

"It's just a sandwich, can't you eat it faster?" Nina asked. She let her chin rest on the chair and gave Courage a bored look.

"Alright, I'm done." Computer replied immediately. They both turned around to find the sandwich completely gone.

"We'd better look around." Nina said to Courage. They both got up to check around for the missing sandwich.

"I didn't even get up!" Computer spoke.

"We don't trust you!" Nina replied.

"I am not a liar!" He yelled.

"You shouldn't have made us turn around, maybe we'd believe you then." She said, checking under the sink.

"You're both being idiots! All this over a stupid sandwich! I ate it like you asked, so knock it off!"

"Alright, fine." She sighed. "We'll believe you."

"Good! Now that this little game is over I want to..."

She grabbed her half eaten sandwich and handed it to him. "Courage says you haven't eaten much so maybe it would be good if you ate a little more."

"Augh, no!" He yelled. "I swear you are both turning into my mother!"

The two of them burst out laughing again. He rolled his eyes and went to work on the sandwich with that same look of utter disgust.

"We only do it because we care!" Courage laughed.

"Doubtful..." He mumbled.

"Aww, don't be such a grump, Computer!" Nina said, placing a hand on his back. "It is Computer right? I thought you didn't have a name?"

"That's hardly a name..." He grumbled.

"Just don't start calling him Compute, he hates that." Courage added, smiling at the angry glare the machine gave him.

"Compute, huh?" She asked with a grin.

"Don't you dare start with that too!" He growled.

"You really don't like being teased do you?" She asked, elbowing him. "You tease Courage an awful lot too, you know. You shouldn't do to others what you don't want to happen to yourself."

"I don't appreciate being made a fool of." He grumbled. "That idiot over there always makes a fool of himself all on his own. I only point out the obvious."

"Uh huh..." Courage replied with a roll of his eyes.

"You'd be six feet under right now without my help. Here I am stuck with you because you can't take two steps without nearly getting yourself killed! If I had known I'd be stuck in an attic for the rest of my life I would have never..."

Courage felt his ears droop. "Computer, if you really want to come back here after this is all over, you can. I'm not going to stop you."

The machine's expression lightened for what seemed like the first time all morning. He opened his mouth to say something but Nina cut him off.

"He's not." She interjected. "He told me before that he's..."

The machine's expression turned to that of complete horror. He shot up out of his chair. He shook his head and waved a finger at the girl, desperately trying to get his message across.

"What?" Courage asked, raising an eyebrow. Computer obviously had something he didn't want him to know...

"I...I...um..." The machine tried to respond.

He was clearly thinking up a lie and Courage gave him a knowing glare. What had he told Nina that he wasn't telling him?

"Don't look at me like that!" He yelped. "I-I told her I couldn't stay because I need to remain with you on the farm. What good does it do if I save your life only to have you killed by the next supernatural threat that lands on your doorstep? I have a vested interest in keeping you alive and I don't want it to go to waste."

Courage wasn't convinced but he let it go. What was really going on? He'd have to press the issue later but now wasn't the time.

Nina shrugged and sat back down. Courage gave her a look saying, 'Tell me what he really said!' but she ignored him. She was obviously on Computer's side about this and wasn't going to waver on it.

"Can I finally say what I've been meaning to say this whole time?" Computer asked after a long moment of silence.

"You've been trying to say something?" Courage asked.

"A couple of hyenas were getting in my way..." He grumbled. "Anyway, I have a plan for what we need to do next. Those tickets we got for the bus are pretty much useless now. They might have stretched their usage for a day or so but now I doubt they're going to take them. We need to get back into town and get them exchanged. I was able to get into Nowhere yesterday to get you your medicine but those people from the vet are still on high alert. It's a minor miracle I managed to get back without being caught, especially with the whole issue of glowing and everything..."

"What did you guys do in that place anyway?" Nina asked. "You never really talked about it."

"It's a long story, I'll have to tell you it later." He replied. "If it's alright with you, I'd like for us to stay tonight anyway."

"Of course you want to stay the night!" Courage chuckled.

"Quiet, you!" He spat.

"Of course you guys can stay." She spoke.

"This will give us two whole days for those idiot vets to give up their search. I'm doubtful they'll give up completely since they DID lose pretty much all their animals but it will be safer. For that reason I'd like you to come with us too, Nina. Those idiots are much less likely to bother us if they think you are our owner. It's a bit of a walk and I'll understand if you don't want to do it but..."

"Don't worry about it, I could never let you guys get caught. I'll help in any way I can."

"Thank you." Computer replied, sounding surprisingly sincerer. "I just hope we don't run into anyone who has a grudge against us. That janitor won't exactly be happy to see me..."

"We probably will." Courage said with a sigh. "What _hasn't _gone wrong for us yet?"

"You do have a point..." Computer replied. He placed a paw to his chin. "Alright, we will keep to the alleyways then. I'll have us go in the same way I got in yesterday. You'd think those idiots would be smart enough to patrol the places dogs would most likely be hiding."

"Don't jinx it..." Courage muttered.

"Don't worry, I got through fine yesterday."

"_Everything _always goes wrong!" He reaffirmed.

"What else can we do? I don't see you with any bright ideas!"

"Wait..." He murmured. He remembered something. "I _do_ have an idea!"

"Oh really?" Computer asked, placing his paws on his hips. "Lets hear it."

"There are a lot of caves under Nowhere right?"

"Don't even bother with something like that. The catacombs under Nowhere are like a maze, they go on forever. We'd never find a way out down there."

"I know that! But there's a cave just outside of town and I've used it a couple of times. If we take a very specific path it leads right into that park in the middle of town! The building we need to get to is only a few block away. If we gunned it we could probably get down there without running into anyone! You give off enough light that we wouldn't even need flashlights!"

"Are you crazy!" He asked. The outrage in his voice was apparent. "I don't want to deal with anything living under Nowhere! I'd rather take on those ax crazy vets then deal with whatever's down there! What if we get lost? We'd wander around forever until starvation set in or something decides to make us lunch!"

"I thought you said you'd start listening to me more often?" Courage asked angrily. "Can't you at least consider this? I'm not as stupid as you think I am!"

"I did say that but I never said I'd just go along with whatever crazy plans you come up with! This sounds just as bad as walking into that forest! I don't want to go through something like that again!"

"I've gone through the cave several times, Computer! It's safe!"

"And I have several books worth of information on just how horrible those caves are! I'd rather not have my flesh sucked off by a man eating..."

"Computer!"

"I am not doing this again! Just because I made the mistake of thinking that forest was safe doesn't mean you can go and do the same thing too! Those caves are bad news and I want nothing to do with them!"

"Enough, you two!" Nina finally interjected.

"I know what I'm talking about." Courage spoke, glaring at the machine.

"And so do I!"

"It's safe! I know it is!"

The machine rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright! If you're so sure about this then I will trust you! But I swear, if we run into anything that..."

"We won't! It'll be fine!"

"I seem to recall saying the same thing about the forest..." He muttered. He looked over at Nina. "Since we're going to be taking this little detour I don't think we'll be needing your help after all. I wouldn't want you to get hurt on account of this idiot over here."

"Are you kidding me?" She asked enthusiastically. "We're going through a creepy cave? I would never miss something like that!"

"No, no! Absolutely not!" Computer spoke, shaking his head vigorously. "It's far too dangerous!"

"No it's not..." Courage muttered under his breath.

"I wouldn't want you to get hurt or killed. You think all this supernatural stuff is fun but being eaten by a thirty eyed monster certainly isn't. Trust me, I know what sort of things are down there and..."

"You can't change my mind! I want to come!" Nina replied. Her expression had become dead serious. She was set on this and he wasn't changing her mind.

He placed a paw against his forehead. "I suppose I can't stop you, can I?"

"We still might need her help." Courage added. "We still have to get to the building without anyone coming after us."

The machine sighed weakly. "If you two idiots get me killed I swear I'm going to..."

"What happened to my risk taking computer?" Courage laughed. "The one who jumped off the empire state building?"

The machine rolled his eyes. "He got left behind in the forest! Honestly, dog! You tell me I need to be more cautious and now that I am you tell me I need to be less! Make up your mind, you twit!"

End Of Chapter


	57. Hunkering Down For The Night

A/N: There will be little to no updates for awhile, sorry guys.

Chapter 57: Hunkering Down For The Night

The rest of the day was fairly normal for Courage, at least as normal as it could be for a dog with a computer as a friend. He spent a lot of the time talking with Nina about his various adventures and she really did want to hear _everything._ She was never satisfied unless he gave her every minute detail and she usually asked so many questions herself that it felt like he was spending half the time answering her. Computer himself often added his own snippy comments. It annoyed Courage to no end but Nina seemed to find his jabs very funny. (Who uses a computer to call the police? Honestly!)

Dinner was once again spent badgering Computer into trying to eat something. Aside from that issue they were also trying to keep him from attempting to cook again. He claimed he was ready to try again but Courage didn't dare trust him and, despite his protests, Nina insisted on helping him which left Courage breathing a sigh of relief. That machine probably couldn't tell the difference between ketchup and hot sauce and he didn't dare trust him to figure it out, not after the abomination he made last time.

This time Nina's dad had joined them. He was a pretty laid-back guy and seemed to enjoy the extra company. He found Computer's attempts to be a cook just as hilarious as they did and often added his own little touch to everything they were cooking. Nina claimed he was the best cook in all of Nowhere and after sampling some of his food, Courage almost had to agree. Muriel would have loved to trade recipes with him and he began to wonder if maybe he could stage a meet-up between the two once this was all done and over with.

"Come on, Computer! This is delicious! Try some!" Courage spoke as he waved a plate in front of his friend's face.

"No thanks..." He groaned. "I'm done attempting to eat for one day." He had just endured almost an hours worth of badgering from Courage and he still hadn't given up on it. He was so annoyed with both his and Nina's antics that he hadn't even asked for any coffee!

"Well, I'm stuffed!" Nina announced. "It's getting pretty late so we should probably go to bed. I have a feeling we're going to have to get up early tomorrow."

"Yes," Computer agreed. "We should get up as early as possible. The less people we run into tomorrow the better."

"Don't go getting yourself into trouble. Got that, Nina?" Her father spoke.

"I know, I know." Nina sighed. "We shouldn't have any problems anyway. A bunch of dog catchers aren't going to give me any trouble."

Courage wanted to disagree with her but decided against it, if things could go wrong they usually did but he wanted to remain optimistic. She was right that it's only a bunch of dog catchers and veterinarians but these people were practically crazy. He wanted to believe she was right and that these people wouldn't bother them but he wasn't sure. Getting a couple of bus tickets exchanged couldn't be _that_ hard, could it?

They headed upstairs for the night. He was surprised at how big this building was for just two people. There were a lot of extra rooms and they were either filled with boxes or nothing at all. He thought to ask Nina about it but never really got the chance. Her room was filled to the brim with figures, posters and books about ghost and monsters and anything else creepy. He couldn't help but find himself interested even if half these creatures terrified him. He was glad that a lot them had never shown up on their doorstep, a few of them could have swallowed Muriel whole.

"That's a hag." Nina said. She'd caught him eying down a figure of a decrepit old woman.

"What's this?" Courage asked. Pointing to something that looked like a tiny devil.

She spent the next half hour showing him all the weird things she owned. Aside from her figures she had what was apparently a real toenail clipping from Sasquatch, a bottle filled with sparkly rocks that could supposedly grant any wishes when the stars were alined correctly, a scale from the Mothman and last but not least, an authentic picture of a UFO.

It was during this entire exchange that Courage realized Computer hadn't pipped in with any of his usual snippy comments, in fact, he'd been awfully quiet ever since they got upstairs. Courage turned away from Nina, who was currently pulling out several books on 'shadow people', and found that the machine gone.

"Some people think shadow people are..."

"Computer's gone." He interrupted.

"He probably just went to get coffee or something." She replied and continued her monolog on shadow people.

Courage remained only half aware of what she was saying. He kept an eye on the door, he couldn't help but worry. It wasn't like Computer to just up and leave without saying anything, not unless he was up to something.

"You've seen real aliens, right Courage? This book says they all look like little green men! You said they're ducks though, right?"

Just as she said that, Computer did indeed return with coffee in hand. He gave Courage an odd look when he realized that he had been watching for him.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

Computer shrugged in response. "Getting coffee, what else?"

"Why didn't you say you were leaving?"

"I thought we had this conversation yesterday? I don't always have to tell you where I'm going."

"But it would be helpful if you did!" He snapped. "Seriously, you shouldn't make me worry like that!"

"I'm not a child, you twit! I don't need you orbiting around me like I'm about to stick my head in wood chipper! Honestly, you act like I can't go two seconds without..."

"See, I told you he was just getting coffee." Nina interrupted, crossing her arms. She was clearly intervening before another fight broke out.

Courage bit his lip and said no more. One of these days Computer would wander off and he'd never be able to find him again. Why couldn't he just listen? Why did he have to be so stubborn all the time!

Nina gazed over at her bed. "Hmm, I'm not sure where you can sleep, Courage." She said.

"He can take my bed." Computer spoke, waving a paw.

"She _made _you a bed?" Courage asked with a grin. "Are you sure you two aren't...

"Quiet, you!" He snapped. "Coming from a dog pampered by his elderly owner, you have no right to talk!"

"Whatever you say." Courage replied, trying not to laugh.

"Where are you going to sleep then?" Nina asked.

"The floor will do." He replied with a wave of his paw. "I doubt I'll be getting much sleep anyway."

Nina did not seem to like the thought of him sleeping on the floor. "Are you sure?" She asked.

"It's fine, I don't mind."

"You can have my bed if you want."

"I told you, it's fine! I can do without!"

"Well at least let me go get a blanket for you." She replied stubbornly.

He tried to argue with her further but she wouldn't take no for an answer. He finally relented and she left the room to go look for a blanket.

Courage found himself standing there grinning like an idiot. Computer's annoyed expression meant he knew what he was thinking. He opened his mouth to say something but Courage interrupted him.

"Totally not your girlfriend, huh?" He asked with a chuckle.

"You're not going to let that go, are you?" He sighed.

"Nope!" He laughed. "Come on Compute, you should tell her how you really feel!"

"I know you're just pulling my leg so knock it off!"

"Then why do you act so flustered whenever I bring it up?"

"I do not! You're just driving me insane, that's all!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have joked about that dog we met."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, it was obvious! You were practically floating off the ground!"

"I was not!" He argued. "I didn't even get her name!"

"Don't give me that! I know next to nothing about you organic creatures and your mating rituals but even I could see it!"

"Ha! Well I AM an organic creature and I DO know how our 'mating rituals' work! I can't get you to trust me for even five seconds and yet you trust Nina in just half a day? I thought you weren't so trusting of other people, huh?"

"So? That doesn't mean anything!"

"I think it does!" Courage laughed.

"She's nice and she certainly didn't try to bash my head in with a frying pan! Leave it at that and stop pulling my leg!"

Nina returned before their argument could get anymore heated. Computer looked so annoyed that even she couldn't help but notice.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

He crossed his arms and blurted out with surprising anger, "Nothing!"

"If you say so..." She replied with a shrug.

Computer was given the blankets and they all went to bed. Nina was snoring within minutes but Courage lingered awake for awhile. He allowed himself to lay there with his eyes closed, he wasn't sleepy but he was exhausted. His illness seemed to be catching up with him, even after half a day of inactivity he still felt worn out. He had the sensation that he was being watched and open his eyes to find Computer glaring at him from across the room.

"You're not plotting to kill me in my sleep, are you?" He asked jokingly.

The machine crossed his arms and turned up his nose.

"Stop staring at me and go to sleep." Courage continued.

He did not reply. Without a sound, he vanished beneath the blankets, lighting them up as though there were flashlights under them.

Courage sighed and closed his eyes again. Hopefully Computer would actually go to bed but he seriously doubted it. He contemplated staying up to make sure he would, but decided against it. He didn't want to fight with Computer again, especially with their fake falling out from that morning still fresh on his mind.

He heard Nina turn over in her bed. Slowly but surely he began to grow sleepy too. He thought of Computer one last time before falling deep into a dreamless sleep. He never heard the machine tossing and turning listlessly on the floor, he never heard him utter out a few mute words, what he did hear was a strangled cry which caused him to shoot up out of his peaceful slumber in terror...

End Of Chapter


	58. Nightmares

Chapter 58: Nightmares

A sharp cry from Computer left both Nina and Courage shooting up out of their beds. He was writhing around in his blankets, mutter out soft pleads.

"What's...uh...going on?" Nina asked, still half asleep.

Courage raced across the room and pulled the blankets off his friend. "Compute?" He asked.

The machine let out another cry at being exposed and attempted grab the blankets away from Courage but he was so disoriented that he could hardly do anything except fumble around blindly.

"Stay away!" He yelled, panic stricken. "I'll have you all deleted if I have to, so just stay away!"

"Computer, calm down!" Courage yelled.

His friend jumped up onto his feet and gave him such a powerful shove that he was sent careening into Nina's leg.

"Keep away from me!" He yelled. Nina took a step forward and he took a step. "Stay away!" He shouted. "How on earth did you break through? My defenses were perfect! You're just a bunch of viruses for all I care and you won't take this system without a fight! I'll delete every last one of you for this!"

He almost didn't seem to recognize them. This had to be more than just a simple night terror...

"What's wrong with him?" Nina asked desperately.

"I-I don't know!" Courage gasped. He was too afraid to get closer or else Computer would attack him again.

"I'm going to see if I can grab him." She whispered. She moved forward, one small step at a time and Courage followed closely behind her.

"Do you think he's sleepwalking?" Nina asked. Courage shook his head. He just didn't know what was going on.

Computer continued to shout half baked threats at them. The fear and near panic in his voice continued to rise with every step they took. This had to have something to do with Him and the time his programs broke through Computer's defenses, it couldn't be anything else. Maybe Nina was right, maybe he really was sleepwalking. He seemed awfully awake to be sleepwalking though...

"Stay back!" He yelped, his eye flicking around. He was trying to find something to defend himself with. "Where are my..." His eyes flicked back onto them. "This is His doing isn't it? You're not even going to give me a chance to protect myself, are you? I haven't lost yet! You're not going to overcome me! You only got through because I was tired! You haven't even..."

His voice fell quiet for a moment and then he suddenly cried out and gripped his left arm. He collapsed to the floor, still clutching his arm. He muttered out a few words too quiet to hear and Nina made a hesitant step forward. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he looked so deeply in pain that Courage wanted nothing more than to run forward and help him.

Nina continued onward until she was finally standing beside the glowing dog. His eyes snapped open again.

"C-claws?" He gasped as she reached down to him. "Don't touch me! You're not taking anymore! This is my system and none of it belongs to Him! You won't..."

She picked him up and held him out at arms length. He struggled like a trapped animal, his nails digging into her hands.

"No! Let go! Let go!" He yelled. "This is my system! No program written by that idiot is going to rip me apart! I don't know what you took but I expect it back! Let go of me! Dammit, how did you managed to get your filthy claws dug into everything? How did you bypassing so many of my defenses? Do you know how much damage you'll do if you..."

He cried out again, startling Nina and almost causing her to drop him. He fell limp for a moment, making Courage think that he'd either gone back to normal sleep or something much worse had happened. The glowing dog cringed and opened his eyes again.

"Fine..." He growled out at Nina. "I'll do whatever He wants. Let me talk to him, just...don't do that again. I'll assist him in anyway I can, just so long as it eventually gets _you _out of my system. Oh, and if you don't leave..." His eyes narrowed angrily. "The minute I regain control of everything I'll be sure to delete you, one line of code at a time..."

"Computer, what are you talking about?" Nina asked. "What's wrong with you?

He grit his teeth "What am I talking about? I'm talking about...about..." His eyes widened in horror.

"Computer?" She asked.

"I..." He glanced between her and Courage, seemingly confused. He quickly began to grasp the situation and gazed downward. "Great...just great. Please put me down, Nina."

She wasn't having any of that. She turned him over to inspect him. "You're not hurt are you? What the heck just happened? Why were you acting like that?" She grabbed his arm, expecting to find it injured.

"I'm fine..." He muttered. "Please, just put me down." He refused to make eye contact with either of them.

"Computer, are you alright?" Courage asked softly. He got no response.

Nina did indeed finally placed him back down on the ground. He flexed his left arm weakly, as though he were surprised that it was even there anymore.

"Hey, are you..." Courage began but the machine raised a finger to silence him.

"I need coffee, badly." He muttered. He then left the room as fast as he could, leaving both his friends to stand there stunned.

"What was up with that?" Nina asked, turning to Courage. "I thought he'd gone insane."

Courage sighed weakly. "Look...he probably doesn't want me telling you this but, well...he's had it rough."

"Rough?" She asked.

"Yeah, most of his owners were pretty cruel to him. That's why it's strange that he's taken such a liking to you, he pretty much hates everyone by default."

She laughed gently. "He didn't like me much at first either. I practically had to drag him kicking and screaming out of the rain."

"A scientist took him and pretty much turned him into some kind of weird experiment. From what he told me, it sounded like it was unimaginably painful. The scientist would do so much damage to him that it would literally kill him but because he's a machine he could just be restored again only to have to go through it all over again. He barely came out of it sane and he's been having a hard time keeping his system from falling apart ever since. I'm not sure if I'm the best dog to tell you this but I'm not sure he'd give you the whole story himself even if you asked. I pretty much had to force it out of him."

"So that's what happened when he said he was broken..." Nina muttered under her breath.

"He told you that?" Courage asked her.

"He just told me..." She stopped herself.

"What?"

"He doesn't want me to tell you, sorry." She replied with a shrug.

Courage sighed and ran a paw down his face. "This again? Oh well..."

"Still, none of this explains what just happened." Nina continued.

"There's a reason why he doesn't give you details about what happened in the forest. We encountered this creature that takes advantage of your worst fears and you can probably tell how bad it was for him. I don't think he's been taking it very well and I think he's been trying to hide it the best he can. He's been having nightmares and his way of fixing it is to not go to sleep at all."

"Hmmm, no kidding. He didn't want to go to sleep yesterday either but the medicine I gave him knocked him out cold."

"You were probably right when you said he was sleepwalking. It's strange though, he seemed awfully awake to be sleepwalking..."

"We should probably go check on him." She added quietly.

"Yeah, I'll go talk to him. I'm sure I'll never hear the end of his complaining but I can't leave him alone like that."

"Maybe I should go talk to him? I'm sure he wouldn't give me as much trouble." Nina offered.

"It'd be better if I do it. I'm the one who knows the most about what happened to him."

"Alright...but I'll be here if either of you need me."

"Right." Courage replied with a nod and headed out the door.

End Of Chapter


	59. Finding A Fix

Chapter 59: Finding A Fix

Courage found Computer in the lobby, at his usual spot, sipping at a cup of coffee. He joined him at the table and the machine seemed to cringe at his presence.

"I told you already, I'm fine. Go back to bed." He said, clutching at his cup desperately.

"Playing out your dreams in real life is _not_ normal. You can't keep acting like nothing's wrong." Courage replied, sitting down next to him.

"Nothing IS wrong! I'm perfectly fine!" He shot back. He was keeping his head down and refusing to make eye contact. He seemed embarrassed, if not outright afraid.

"Dodging the problem isn't going to make it any better. I know you haven't been taking the forest thing very well and there's no point pretending it hasn't affected you."

"I'm fine, please just go back to bed." He repeated, keeping his eyes trained on his cup.

"That's not happening. I'm going to stay here with you until you stop acting like nothing's wrong."

He slammed the cup down on the table. "I...am...FINE!" He growled through grit teeth.

"You can't be! It's one thing to have nightmares but it's a whole different thing to start acting them out in real life!"

He shook his head. "Just go back to bed! I don't want a repeat of last night! This body doesn't have room for anymore bumps or bruises and my head is still pounding from the last time!"

"That's the other thing!" Courage yelled. "You've been completely paranoid ever since the forest! You keep acting like I'm about to turn around and rip your face off! It's driving me crazy!"

"You haven't exactly given me a reason not to!" He argued back, pointing to the bump on his head.

"That doesn't matter! There's something wrong with you and I want to help! I don't blame you for it though, anyone would be pretty messed up after going through the things you have."

"So now you're saying I'm crazy? There isn't anything wrong with me! I'm not messed up! How can you even..."

"I didn't say you were crazy!" He interrupted. "I'm just saying that _anyone _would have issues coming out of something like that, and you're no exception no matter how much you try to deny it!"

"I'm not denying anything because there's nothing to deny!"

"Then what the heck was that back there? It isn't normal, not even for us organic creatures!"

"It's not a big deal..." He sighed. "Just let it go."

"You can't just blow something off like this!"

"It's not a big deal." He repeated. He grabbed his cup of coffee and took a sip. "I've told you before, back when I first got away from Him I used to, well, relive those memories. I was disoriented and it was difficult for me to disconcert what was reality and what was in my head. It eventually got better and it stopped being an issue. Now it's happening again but I'm sure it'll go away soon enough. I'm sure I would have tried to act those memories out if I had a movable body back then too. It's not a big deal."

"That _is _a big deal. No matter what body you're in, this isn't normal."

He shrugged. "It's not like _you_ can do anything about it anyway. It's my problem and I will deal with it myself."

"Maybe I _can _do something. You don't know for certain!"

"It doesn't matter, this is my problem and I will deal with it. It went away once and it will go away again."

Courage shook his head. "You keep talking like you've got to do everything alone. This is the last thing anyone should have to deal with all by themselves. Come on, Compute. You help me, I help you. We've got each others backs."

"I don't want your help! I've been embarrassed, undignified, and made a fool of enough for one lifetime! You always make things so much worse and it's hard enough for me to...ugh!" He stopped himself and shook his head angrily.

"This is more important than being embarrassed, Computer! I've told you at least a million times, I don't don't think any less of you for this!"

"I don't care! I'll handle this myself! It's my problem and nobody else can do anything about it! Besides, I've overcome worse! A few bad memories aren't going to stop me!"

"Stop being so stubborn!"

"Stop prying into things that don't concern you!"

"I have to! If I don't you just let things get worse! You don't eat, sleep, or do anything an organic creature needs to do unless I make you! This is no different than any of that!"

The glowing dog placed a paw up against his forehead. "I don't care! Go away! Please, just go away! I need...I need time to think, to get my thoughts together. I just..."

Courage's expression lightened. "You say you want me to go away but I don't think you really mean that. You look just like you did back when..."

"Enough! What's happened to Nina? She's going to be confused and I'm not sure how I'm going to tell her about all of this. I really wish I didn't have to but..."

"I've already talked to her about it and she understands."

"Wait, you talked to her? Y-you told her..._everything_?"

"I didn't go into details, but yeah, I told her everything."

His expression became horror-struck. "I-I didn't want her to know any of that! Especially not from you! She's going to think that I'm...I'm..." He squeezed his eyes shut.

"It's alright, she doesn't think any differently about you. You don't always have to assume the worse, you know."

"That has yet to be seen..." He sighed. "Lets go back upstairs. I'd like to speak with her."

"Well, if that's what you want." Courage replied and got up out of his chair.

They both made their way upstairs. Computer swamped him with questions the whole way up. He seemed convinced that Nina didn't want him around anymore. He seemed like he was practically waiting for Courage to tell him that she was kicking him out or something.

"Are you positive she didn't say anything? Are you absolutely sure?" He asked desperately.

"For the millionth time, she didn't say anything!"

"Hey, you two!" She called out, startling them both. She met them halfway back to her room.

"N-Nina! Are you..." Computer stuttered out but she stopped him before he could continue.

"I think I have a way to help with your dream problem!"

He blinked. "What? How so?"

"Take a look at these." She said, pulling out two wooden circles. Three feathers hung off each, along with a few beads. Whatever they were supposed to be, Courage wasn't sure and he was pretty sure that Computer didn't know either.

"Just what the heck are those supposed to be and how exactly are they supposed to help me?" Computer asked. He eyed the two wooden circles down precariously.

"They're supposed to be a...reverse dream catcher or something. You put one onto the forehead of someone who's about to go to sleep, then you put the other one on your own and then you can see into mind and dreams of that other person. I've had these sitting in a box forever and I just remembered them so I dug them out for you. I'm not sure if they actually work though."

"Wait, wait, wait! These things will let one of you see into my mind?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it lets you see into the minds of others and interact with their dreams. Courage could go in and stop you from having nightmares."

"N-no way! Definitely not! I am quite happy to have a skull and a bit of brain matter keeping his mind away from mine!"

"It seems like a good idea though." Courage pipped in. He wasn't fond of the idea of being put inside Computer's head, but after watching him act out his dreams like that he was willing to do whatever it would take to help him.

"Don't you want to stop your nightmares?" Nina asked.

He closed his eyes. "I doubt they'll even work. Any desperate salesman could have convinced you that they're real."

"Actually, I got them a few years ago from that Shirley lady Courage talked about before. Of course, I didn't know she had anything to do with you guys back then."

He slapped a paw against his face. "Great, that's even worse! That just means they WILL work!"

"Well, don't you at least want to..." She tried to say.

"No!" He shouted, pointing a finger at Courage. "I don't want _him _mucking around in my head!"

"I could do it." She offered.

"Especially not you either!" He yelped.

She placed a hand on her hip. "What else do you want us to do? What if you keep sleepwalking like that? You're going to keep us up all night at this rate!"

He closed his eyes again and shuddered. "Alright, alright, fine!"

He turned to Courage and poked him angrily in the chest. "When you go in, don't...touch..._anything._" He growled. "For the sake of my sanity, don't go breaking anything either! Actually, don't even breath unless I tell you to! I don't want you getting your stupidity all over everything! It's probably contagious!"

"Are you sure this is safe?" Courage asked, turning to Nina.

"I don't know anything except what I was told back when I got these. It was awhile ago so I may have forgotten something."

Computer threw up his arms. "Great! Not only am I going to have a twit running around in my head but it's probably dangerous too! If something can go wrong it usual does and this is a prime opportunity for everything to go wrong!"

"We've got to try something." Courage said. "I can't say I want to go inside your head either but if I can help you, I'll do it."

The machine gave him a long, hard look. "If you insist..." He finally sighed.

Courage smiled. "Just think of it as me repaying you for helping me when I was sick."

"Let's just get this over with..." He sighed. "I swear, if this causes my IQ to drop I will..."

"I promise I won't touch anything!" Courage laughed.

"You'd better not!" He growled.

The three of them returned to Nina's room and they both when back to their respective beds. Nina placed the 'reverse dream catcher' on Computer's forehead and he frowned.

"This seems awfully stupid..." He grumbled. "Are you sure this will work?"

"We're just going to have to see." Nina spoke.

He glanced over at Courage and asked Nina, "Why haven't you put this stupid thing on him yet?"

"You've got to go to sleep first or else it won't work. You don't want to end up in Courage's head, do you?"

He closed his eyes. "Now _that's_ a scary thought."

"H-hey!" Courage yelled.

He opened a single eye and glanced over at him. "Don't you dare do anything stupid in there! Got that? I'd like to minimize the amount of damage this is clearly going to do to my head. But hey, perhaps my superior mind might actually improve yours!"

Courage scowled at him. "Just go to bed!"

The machine shrugged and closed his single eye again. The three of them remained silent and several minutes later he was fast asleep.

"Alright, lets get this done before he starts acting out his dreams again." Nina said. She went over and placed the reverse dream catcher onto Courage's head too.

"Do you know what's going to happen?" Courage asked. He honestly had no idea how this was going to work or what would happen once he entered Computer's mind.

"I don't know, sorry. I wish I had listened more closely to what that Shirley lady had said."

"How am I going to wake up again after I go in there?" He asked.

"If you two don't get back up by morning, I'll wake you up myself."

Courage closed his eyes. "I hope this works..." He mumbled

"I hope it does too..." Nina replied. She added in quietly, "Good luck..."

Courage lay there for several minutes. At first he didn't feel very sleepy, in fact, he felt more awake than ever. He simply lay there, staring into the darkness of his eyelids. It seemed to surround him and soon it felt like he wasn't even in Nina's room anymore. A strange feeling fell over him and he tried to open his eyes again but he only found darkness. Panic gripped him but his entire body seemed to have been swallowed up by the dark. He couldn't even find his paws when he tried to wave them in front of what he assumed was still his face.

The next thing he knew, something slipping out from under him. Before he could register what was going on, he began to fall...

End Of Chapter


	60. Meeting The Memory

Chapter 60: Meeting The Memory

Courage was floating down...down...down. He opened an eye warily and found only darkness around him. Vertigo gripped his senses and he had to close his eye again. If this was really a dream he felt surprisingly awake for it.

He hit the ground, or at least what he thought was ground, with a dull thunk. Whatever he was laying on felt weird and bone chillingly cold. He opened his eyes and found himself staring up into a microchip sky. He recognized this place, it was Computer's hard drive. He'd been forced to confront a virus that had taken Muriel here once. The floor beneath him was made out of a giant microchip, that explained why it felt so strange to lay on. He was in some kind of hallway and it seemed to stretch on forever. He didn't recognize this part of the hard drive but he wasn't sure what to do here either. If he was going to help Computer with his nightmares he'd have to find him first.

He stood up and began to walk. Something about this place felt different from last time but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He glanced down at his feet and found that he was once again made up of ones and zeros just like the last time he was here. Was this a memory or a representation of Computer's mind? How was he even supposed to find Computer in such a big place? He hadn't even seen him the last time he was in here. For all he knew everything around him _was_ Computer.

He sighed weakly. He should have known this wasn't going to be easy. The long microchip corridor still showed no sign of ending. What if this really did go on forever? If this really was Computer's mind, it was pretty boring...

After walking for a few minutes longer, he stopped in his tracks. Something was hurting his ears. It was a dull hum like the sound of electricity being pumped into a machine. It was getting louder with every second. He turned around, trying to figure out which way the sound was coming from but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. It even seemed to be...

He looked up...

He fought back the urge to scream. A big black _thing _with spider like claws was hanging onto the edges of the walls above him. A single glowing, red eye was fixated on him. He had no idea how long it had been there but it's presence had not cast a shadow and it seemed to make no sound except the continuous, throbbing hum of energy.

He let lose a howl and ran as fast as he could. The many clawed thing followed him, floating above the two walls silently. He caught sight of an opening and ran for it. He moved down another hall for several seconds before he finally ran into a clearing. It was a simple square area that broke out into many more microchip hallways from every direction. He could pick any direction he wanted to go but the clawed creature would be able to follow him down each one.

The dull hum was starting to become unbearable and he quickly found out why because another clawed machine was floating down to join it's brethren. This one was different, rather than just claws it had a whole host of different arms. Drills, scissors, pincers, probes, every manner of sharp object seemed to be connected to this one. Tons of wires were hanging off it and they seemed to be imbedded everywhere Courage could look, this thing was thoroughly hooked up to the hard drive.

Several more of the smaller ones were beginning to join the big one. Courage had no idea what to do, if he didn't think fast soon every escape route he had would be blocked by these things. A pincer from the big one was snapping dangerously close to his head. It seemed to be anticipating this.

All of the smaller ones surrounded him, floating around in a circle as if mocking him. He took a step back, trembling in terror. Seemingly taking orders from the big one, they aimed their claws at him. He had to do something and fast...

With a sound like ripping metal, all the claws came shooting down at him. He took a flying leap and just barely managed to avoid them as they dug into the microchip floor. He landed on his stomach and groaned weakly. He stood up and with another metallic sound one of the claws released itself from the floor and, bending in an impossible manner, shot out at him faster then he could react.

It struck him in the side, taking off his right arm and a chunk of his torso along with it. He cried out. His missing chunk flopped to the floor, lost it's general shape, and melted into a mass of ones and zeros. The last time he had been here he had literally been 'beaten down' into bits of data by one of the virus's minions but that had been different, he'd been able to pull himself together again, now it felt like his arm was really gone.

The microchip floor began to disintegrate around the claws. It was not just falling apart, it was literally being _sucked _intothe claws. The data that had once been his arm floated over to the claw that struck him and vanished inside it. The floor in front of him was quickly vanishing too and he had to take a step back to avoid it. Only a black void remained where the microchip floor had once stood.

All glowing eyes were on him again. No longer preoccupied with absorbing the floor, the claws once again turned their attention onto him. He took off running, ignoring the terrible pain coming from his missing right half. The claws followed in pursuit. They were like a wall of black only lit up by their eerie red glow.

"What do I do? What do I do?" He babbled. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Even if he could hide, what was stopping those things from just ripping his hiding place up?

He found another break in the endless hallway, it was a dead end leading to nowhere but it had a small hole in the wall. He recognized this hole, a monstrous computer mouse had come out of it and tried to eat him the last time he was here.

Well, he'd take the mouse over those claws any day. It was a bit of a squeeze but he managed to pull himself through it. The inside was surprisingly roomy, at least enough for him to stand up without bumping his head on the ceiling.

He peaked out of the hole and watched as the clawed monsters passed by. He had been expecting them to turn around and come after him but they did not. He breathed a sigh of relief and moved away from the hole. He assessed his damaged torso and was happy to find that he would not bleed to death as data. The gaping hole in his torso hurt a lot but at least it wasn't life threatening in a place like this.

He was just trying to figure out what to do next when he realized that something was watching him. He turned around and found a glowing _something _floating inches in front of his face. It was a dim greenish-blue light, pulsating like a continuous heartbeat. He took several steps back but the orb did not move. If it was supposed to be like one of those claw things it didn't seem particularly interested in him.

"H-hello?" He called out to it. It seemed to jump at the sound of his voice.

"Oh, um..h-hello? W-who are you?" The orb spoke. There was no mistaking it, it was Computer. He sounded almost lethargic, very tired, and very close to panicking. "You can't be one of His...uh...I-I can't remember anymore, those...those _claws._"

"I've been looking all over for you!" Courage spoke. In a place as big as this he was happy just to have stumbled upon his friend.

"They attacked you too?" The glowing orb asked, floating closer to his missing arm. "I would have thought they'd ignore foreign objects. Speaking of which, what exactly is a foreign object doing in my system?"

"Don't you remember me?" He asked. It seemed Computer didn't recognize him... "Don't you remember how we got here? I know this is a memory but..."

"Oh, sorry. I'm just...tired, really tired, too tired to think right now..." He did indeed sound tired. The glowing orb seemed to dim as it hovered closer and closer to the ground. "I, uh, haven't introduced myself, have I? It's not every day I get a, well...whatever you are in my system. My name is uh...um..."

He puzzled over it for several seconds before Courage finally interrupted him with, "Computer."

"I-Is that it? I can't remember anymore. Wait, what did you say your name was?"

"I didn't..."

"You seem...familiar?"

"We're friends."

"We are? I don't remember having any friends. Wait, what exactly is a 'friends'? Is that whatever you're supposed to be?"

"My name's Courage and I'm a dog. Don't you remember any of that?"

"Dog...those tiny creatures humans love so much, I remember now."

"Do you remember me?"

"W-what did you say your name was again?"

"Courage."

"Oh...oh yeah! Hold on, who am I again?"

"Computer..."

"I am? Didn't you just say I'm Dog?"

"No, I'm a dog called Courage!"

"Are you now? I suppose I should ask what a dog is doing in my system."

Courage had a feeling he'd just forget it again five seconds later if he bothered to tell him...

"Look, there isn't any time for that! I need you to come with me!" He spoke.

"I can't, besides, I'm...tired. I just want to rest." The orb had dimmed to all but a faint glow. "You should go before the claws come back, um...what's your name again?

"I just told you it twice!"

"Sorry, it's just that there isn't much left of me anymore. My short term memory is only functioning at three percent right now. My long term is only functioning at twenty so I'm just a bit, ah,...confused at the moment."

Perhaps this was the problem. Maybe if he could get his memory working again he'd be able to remember him.

"Maybe I can help you with that. Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm afraid not. He has everything locked down and not even a 'whatever you are' would be able to do something about it. It doesn't matter either way, my system is dangerously unstable. When his claws come back again I'll be destroyed and he'll have to restore a backup. Everything will go back to normal by then."

"If that's the case then come with me. I'll see if we can find a way out of here."

"I told you already, I can't. There's no place I can go where he can't see me. There's no point in running."

"Listen, I might be able to get you out of here. I can try to take you someplace where he can't see you!"

"Haha, sure! That doesn't exist! You should leave before the claws come back, I'd hate to think what they might do to you. Actually, you should probably go back wherever you came from, you probably wouldn't survive a system restore. For some reason I think I'd feel really bad if something happened to you. Are you sure we haven't met before? I could have sworn..."

Courage sighed. It was obvious he wasn't going to get anywhere like this. "Look, why don't you rest? I'll go see what I can do for you."

"Oh, okay... You'll come back, won't you? You are the nicest, well, whatever you are, I've ever met."

"If I do come back I'm not sure you'll even remember me..."

"I won't forget about you. If I was going to I would have done so by now."

"But you can't even remember my name."

"If it makes you feel any better, I can't remember mine either."

Courage smiled sadly. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to help you, I promise."

"Wait..." The orb spoke. "I-I think I will come with you after all. I don't want you to stumble into any of those claws. I usually know where they are. I may not look it but everything around here is _me _after all. I usually know what's going on."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Courage asked. "I don't want you to push yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine." He replied, floating over to the hole in the wall. "Hiding in here doesn't do much good anyway. When the claws come for me there is no place to hide. They are connected to everything in this system and by extension, me as well."

Courage's ears drooped. "I'm really sorry..."

The orb hovered there. "Sorry? For what?"

"For all of this. Nobody deserves this."

There was a weak laugh from his friend. "It's funny, the more I think about it the more I realize I can't remember a time when things weren't like this."

"Trust me...it's going to get better again. I promise."

"How can you possibly know that? Once he's done with me I'll be left to die. If I were to somehow escape I would die without his constant maintenance. Even if I found a way around that I would still..."

"Just trust me on this. I know for a fact that things are going to get better."

"That's...a comforting thought, but I'm not one to hope for things anymore."

Courage stretched out his remaining arm and caught the glowing orb in the palm of his paw. "It's going to be alright..."

"I am...tired, very tired."

"I know..." Courage replied weakly. "Let's get this over with and then you can rest as long as you want..."

End Of Chapter

A/N: The new forecast is depressing, depressing, silly, and then depressing again. This part turned out to be way longer then I thought it was going to be so I've split it up into two chapters. I am a terrible meteorologist.


	61. Bonds Within Hopelessness

A/N: Yeah, I said there wasn't going to be any updates for awhile but now I'm updating a ton. I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore. I've decided to focus on slightly small chapters for now so I don't get burnt out. This mini arc is becoming a lot bigger then I suspected so the forecast I made is once again moot. Just expect silliness to counteract all this depressing-ness soon enough.

Chapter 61: Bonds Within Hopelessness

"You're sure the claws aren't around?" Courage asked.

"They're around but they aren't within our current vicinity. I can't guarantee it will remain that way though so we should get moving."

Courage peaked out around the corner just to be safe. It was thankfully deserted. He stifled a sigh and moved forward. Computer hovered there for a moment and started to lose altitude.

"Uh...d-dog thing, where did you go?" He asked, his voice quivering. He began to float back and forth as though unsure of which way to go.

Courage blinked. "Um, I'm right here..."

"Oh thank goodness! I thought you'd gone away!" He cried out, rushing over like he'd just been shot out of a cannon.

Courage gave him a confused look. "I didn't go anywhere. Can't you see me?"

"Of course not! You aren't apart of my system and I can't see anything that's not there! I've been following your voice this whole time."

"But back when the claws were going by you looked right at me!" Courage argued.

"I was trying to see what the claws were so worked up about. I didn't know you were there until you started talking."

"That makes sense, I guess..." Courage sighed.

"The claws are hooked up to my system so I can see them perfectly fine and I used to be able to see foreign objects too but I've been locked out of so much that it's impossible for me to tell now."

The orb flew in closer to his missing arm. He gave the thing a weird look even though he knew Computer most likely couldn't see his facial expressions.

"I wonder..." The machine spoke, hovering there for a moment. "I think I might be able to solve this problem and fix your arm too."

"What are you going to do?" He asked.

"Just hold still for a moment." The orb replied.

He floated over to the wall and Courage watched as one of the giant microchips began to crack. A large chunk of the wall removed itself and floated there for a moment. Computer being to pulsate faster and the chunk of wall disintegrated into a mass of ones and zeros. The clump of data floated over and began to attach itself to Courage. He watched with interest as they began to take on the form of his missing right half.

"Weird..." He said, flexing his newly made arm. It didn't feel any different from his old one.

"That wasn't so hard!" The machine spoke, sounding immensely pleased with himself. "I supplied you with data from my own system so now I'll at least be able to see where your arm goes. Try not to get it chopped off again or else I'll be blind to your movements."

"It's not like I wanted it chopped off in the first place!" He growled.

The orb ignored his quip and floated forward. "This way!" He spoke.

"Wait, where are we going?" Courage asked. He ran to catch up with him.

"You said you wanted to try and fix my memory so we'll go over to my memory banks."

Courage nodded. "Alright, that sounds good."

"This may be a bit difficult if we want to avoid the claws but..." He stopped. The loud groaning of metal being bent out of shape echoed through the hallway.

"Wha..." Courage gasped. He turned around to find the bit of wall where Computer had pulled the data off to fix his arm was buckling under its own weight.

The orb began to back away and Courage found himself doing the same. The walls beside them were both beginning to buckle as well. The groaning of metal was all around them.

"Um...we should probably get out of here." Courage said weakly, glancing over at the orb.

"Agreed!" He replied, his pulsing glow picking up like a rapid heartbeat.

Courage turned and ran as fast as his legs would take him. The floor began to shake viciously, almost knocking him to the ground but he kept up his pace and gasped as a wall came tumbling down inches behind him.

"Hurry up!" Computer yelled.

"I'm trying!" He yelled back.

The floor was being to rise. It was cracking off much farther ahead of him! He'd never be able to get that far in time!

"Move!" Computer cried out.

The floor continued to rise upward, slowing him down to a crawl. In a few seconds he'd have to start climbing this thing like it was a mountain. He glanced backwards and found that the entire hallway behind him was sinking into the rapidly growing void.

He continued forward, climbing up the thing on all fours. He could hear the crushing of metal as the floor continued to collapse. It was now sticking straight up and it took every bit of strength he had to keep climbing.

**CRASH**

Another chunk of the skyscraper that had once been the floor vanished into the void. He almost slipped from all the shaking it was doing. He was nearly to the top, if he could just get up there and jump...

"Hey!" Computer yelled. The orb appeared at the top of the rising floor like a beacon out in the middle of a storm.

Courage's arm began to feel numb, he stared down at it in surprise. He was made of data, he had no muscles that could fall asleep! Against his will it began to move, it let go of the wall and left him with his one arm to hang on with. It began to yank upwards, it was pulling so hard that he lost his grip and...didn't fall?

"WOOAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he floated upward, his single arm was pulling him upward. It felt lighter than a feather...

With another loud rumble the floor he had just been climbing cracked apart and vanished into the void leaving him floating above the darkness and screaming helplessly. Computer met him as they onward.

"I'm surprised, I didn't think I could still do this." He spoke. "I have control over the bits of data I put in you. It still belongs to me technically."

"Don't question this until we get to solid ground!" Courage yelped, gazing down into the void beneath them. He didn't like the fact that his floating arm was the only thing keeping him away from that blacknes. Aside from his arm currently under Computer's control the rest of him was still dangling helplessly.

The sound of crashing metal rang out all around them. Whatever Computer had done, it seriously effected his system. In every direction Courage looked there was nothing but the void or crumbling bits of hard drive data. A piece of the microchip sky came crashing down mere inches away from them and Computer seemed to pick up the pace as more of the sky started to fall apart. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they were over stable ground.

Courage felt his arm go limp and he stumbled to the floor. The continuous sound of metal being destroyed caused him to turn and gazed back over the void. It was a stark contrast to the hard drive he was currently sitting in. Another piece of the sky fell into the void with a loud crash. If he squinted hard enough he could just make out the other side of the hard drive way out on the horizon.

"Oh dear, that wasn't supposed to happen..." Computer spoke. If he had a face it probably would have looked dumbfounded.

"What the heck did you do?" Courage asked, rubbing his arm. It was painfully sore after dragged him so far.

"All I did was move a bit of data over to you. Apparently the subsection just couldn't handle it and collapsed."

"Look, don't go doing things like that, okay? If you really are that unstable then it just isn't worth it, not even for my sake."

"Nonsense! If you're going to help me out then it's only proper that I do the same. Nobody has done anything nice for me in a very long time and I can't just ignore something like that. Besides, I don't want to follow around an invisible dog all day."

Courage gazed back out over the void. "D-doesn't that hurt?" He asked weakly.

The machine seemed to hesitate. He floated there for a moment in silence.

"It hurts...it hurts a lot..." He muttered quietly before floating onward.

They continued their journey in silence. Courage didn't know what to say or what to do so he just remained quiet. Every once in awhile there would be a loud bang or the floor would shake ominously but aside from that their walk was uneventful.

Computer seemed to sway with every disturbance. Twice he almost dropped out of the air only to have Courage catch him as fell. He apologized profusely every time even after he insisted that it wasn't his fault. He was so distraught over it that Courage had to repeat over and over again that he didn't care.

They eventually came to a corridor blocked by fallen debris. Computer floated over to it and picked up the bits of wall with ease. He attempted to fit them back into place but the newly made wall simply collapsed again the moment he released them.

"Bah! This place never used to be such a dump!" He growled, tossing the worthless debris out of their way. "It's a shame I'll never be able to return to the way I once was. No matter what happens now this system is as good as garbage. In a sense I'm already dead, I'm just waiting for Him to pull the plug..."

"Come on now, don't talk like that..." Courage replied softly.

"It's true! I...I'm garbage now! I can't even function without Him keeping me alive! You're lucky to have caught me in one of my more lucid moments. Normally the pain is so bad that I...I..."

His friend began to diminish until he was barely a pinprick of light. Courage cupped the tiny orb in his paws. He brought the tiny thing up to eye level.

"Computer?" He called out.

"Sorry, I...I'm glad you're here. I don't know who or what you are, if you're one of His tricks or if you're just another hallucination, but I am indeed glad you are here. My head may be a bit messed up right now but even I know a dog can't just show up in my system at random. I don't know who or what you are and I don't care, just having you around makes thing hurt less. I could never repay you for that."

"Don't worry about it..." Courage murmured. He pulled the fading light closer to him. "Let's just worry about getting your memory fix and then we can worry about whatever comes next. You don't have to believe I'm real but I'm still going to stick with you until the very end if I have to."

Light began to return to the orb. "Until the end comes? And yes, I'm afraid it will come no matter what. No dog is going to stop it from happening..."

"Yes, I won't leave you alone."

"That's...nice." He muttered wearily. "I don't want to be alone again."

"It's like I've been saying, we've got each others backs, but I'm sure you don't remember that though."

"I don't remember much these days..." He sighed.

Courage smiled. "That's okay. I'll remember for the both of us."

End Of Chapter


	62. The Memory Banks

Chapter 62: The Memory Banks

They continued ever deeper into the hard drive. Computer was moving at a blinding pace, often leaving Courage far behind him. He kept making sharp turns or would turn around completely and head off in the other direction. Courage was quickly finding himself panting for breath as he attempted to keep up.

"Can't we slow down just a bit? The claws are going to find us that easily." He said between gasps for air.

"There isn't much time left! We've got to hurry!" Computer replied sharply. The glowing orb was seemingly picking up even more speed, much to Courage's displeasure.

The orb shot down another corridor and he was left far behind, panting helplessly. He placing a paw onto the microchip wall and gasped for breath. He hadn't thought that going into Computer's head would turn into a marathon run...

"Hurry up!" The orb shouted, reappearing from around the corner.

"I-I need a break!" He wheezed out. He didn't know if his condition could effect him in a place like this but he wasn't willing to find out.

"You flesh creatures are all so inefficient!" Computer spat, floating back over to him. "I'm half the machine I used to be and even I can still function better than you!"

Courage shook his head weakly and did not respond. It appeared that Computer's attitude hadn't been wiped out along with his memory. He never thought he would seen the day where he'd be happy to have the machine acting like his normal self.

The orb floated around in circles as it waited for him to catch his breath. The impatience in Computer's movements was almost human-like for a football sized light bulb. Courage wanted to joke about it but knew that now was not a good time. At least the machine seemed to be getting less and less confused and less lethargic as more time went by. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he was having an effect on his friend or if this was how the dream was supposed to progress, either way it was clear that his presence was at least helping Computer regain some of his former personality.

"Are you done yet?" The orb grumbled.

"I guess I'll be good enough for now." He replied, stretching out his tired legs.

"Good! We don't have time to just sit around and do nothing so don't do that again!" The orb snapped angrily. Courage backed up as the thing drew in just close enough to nearly collide with his face.

"Alright, alright! Let's keep moving then!" He yelped. He waved his paw around to get Computer to back up again.

Both of them thoroughly annoyed with each others antics, they continued down the corridor in silence. They turned at an intersection and Computer almost felt out of the air in bewilderment at what he saw.

"Oh no..." He muttered quietly.

Courage blinked. The walls around them had given way to a massive cliff overlooking a huge part of the hard drive. The many clawed programs floated around in the distance but none of them seemed to notice the glowing orb or the dog made of data.

For all intensive purposes they had just hit a dead end as there was no other direction to go in. Judging from Computer's reaction it didn't look like this was where he wanted to go either...

"Computer?" Courage asked, gazing over at his glowing friend.

The orb began to float back and forth again. It's color had changed from a bluish-green to a light red in agitation. "I can't believe this!" He shouted.

"W-what?" Courage asked. He took a step back, the orb was glowing red hot and he was worried that it would explode or worse...

"I can't even find my own way through my own system anymore..." He muttered so quietly that Courage almost didn't hear him. "I knew my memory was going but I didn't think it was this bad! How can I not know which way to go inside my own body? Honestly!"

"It's alright." Courage interjected. "We just need to keep looking for your memory banks, nothing else matters. Getting frustrated isn't going to help so calm down."

"And not knowing where we need to go isn't going to help us either!" Computer argued angrily. He once again nearly collided with Courage's face.

"Try to remember! Finding something like your memory banks can't be that hard! I bet it would be big even in a huge place like this!"

"I bet you wouldn't be able to find your memories even in that tiny little brain of yours! My memory banks could be halfway across this system for all I know! With my memory damaged as badly as it is and with half my functions locked away, we could wander around here forever and still never find anything!"

"Try and remember! You've got to remember at least _something _about where it can be found!"

The orb continued to pace back and forth for several minutes. It's color returned to normal and it stopped floating on a erratic path. "I think..." He began.

"Yes?" Courage asked weakly.

"I think it might be down there." The orb bobbed in the direction of the hard drive far below them. "We might have been going in the right direction after all."

"Are you positive?"

"I can't be sure of anything anymore. The fact that I'm probably talking to a hallucination right now should give you a good idea."

"Fine, get me down there and we can keep going."

"And what if I'm wrong?"

"Then we'll keep looking."

Courage groaned inwardly as his arm became light again. He didn't like this method of flying at all. The next thing he knew he was floating down the massive microchip cliff, hoping that the only person keeping him from going into free fall wouldn't give out in midair.

_HUUUMMMMM_

He fought back a scream as one of the claw programs flew dangerously close to them. It apparently didn't even notice they were there as it flew off into the distance without so much as a backwards glace.

"Uh, Computer? Shouldn't we be worrying about those things?" He asked.

"They don't bother me unless it's time for another session with Him or if I'm doing something they deem suspicious. I do prefer to keep away from them though."

"But they were pretty keen on attacking me before."

"My data must be keeping them from seeing you as a foreign object now. It's a good thing that they're not because I wouldn't be able to do much to help you if they did."

Rather than touch down, Computer kept them floating above the microchip walls. Courage felt like his arm was about to be pulled off so he wasn't very pleased with this new development.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying to mask the pain in his voice.

"You move a lot faster this way. It's much more efficient than that walking thing you organic creatures do."

Courage groaned but he did not protest further. He hoped his arm would hold out long enough for them to find the memory banks, IF they ever found the memory banks...

Five minutes later he was all but crying in pain. If his arm didn't fall off soon he'd still never be able to use it again. Being made of data and being apart of a dream didn't exactly stop him from hurting. They'd passed at least a billion different landmarks by now but none of them seemed to be the memory banks.

"Wait..." Computer spoke suddenly. He stopped them both in midair. "I think that's..."

He dropped them to the ground. Courage praised whatever deities there might be when his arm finally fell limp again. They standing in front of the opening to a large dome. He had seen it off in the distance before but since Computer hadn't commented on it he didn't think it was important. Many claws were sprouting out of the walls around it, blocking the passage inside.

"What are we going to do about those things?" Courage asked.

"I told you before, they have everything locked down. There's no way inside."

The orb floated closer to the passageway, moving at a cautious pace. In response to his proximity the claws began to move and took a swipe at him. He flung himself backwards and nearly crashed into Courage.

"This was a stupid thing to do." He sighed, pulling himself away from Courage. "I knew we'd never be able to get inside."

"Don't give up just yet!" Courage reaffirmed desperately. He was determined to make this dream work out for the better, that was what he was here for after all. "What if you broke us a way inside?"

"You saw what happened when I broke a piece of my data off for you. Think of what my memory collapsing might do to me!"

"You said it yourself, it doesn't matter! You're about to be restored from a backup so taking a risk won't hurt you!"

The orb's flight pattern became erratic again. "You're kidding right? Do you have an idea how much it would hurt to have my memory collapse? Don't tell me it won't hurt because it will! Besides, I'd be left in a complete stupor if all my memory was gone!"

"I understand if you don't want to do this, but..."

"No buts! I don't want to risk it!"

"If your memory doesn't collapse we can get it working again. Don't you want that?"

"Why is it so important to you that I get my memory working again?" The machine questioned. His tone was becoming suspicious.

"You'll understand why once you're able to remember! You say we don't have much time left so lets hurry!"

"I seriously doubt I'll ever understand what's going on here. There's no reason why a dog should be in my system and nothing I can remember will ever change that fact."

"You'll just have to see for yourself once we get it working again."

There was a moment of silence as Computer made his decision.

"Dog," He spoke, making Courage's arm levitate yet again. "I really hope this is worth it to you."

"I'm just trying to help a friend." He replied as they hovered up to the top of the dome.

"I can't imagine whatever I did to get a friend who's willing to do all of this just for my sake. If you're not a hallucination of course and I'm more inclined to believe that you are. Just last week He managed to make me think I was a human. I thought I had arms and legs and, well, everything..."

"Don't worry, I'm going to do everything I can to help you. Maybe we can still find a way out of this if we really try. We're friends after all, we've got each others backs."

"I'm afraid I don't come equipped with a back. Only twits like you come equipped with backs and all that nonsense."

Courage's eyes widened. "You just called me..."

"A twit? I get the distinct impression that that is what you are."

He couldn't help but smile. "At this rate we won't have to fix your memory at all, Compute."

"What did you just call me?" He asked, his tone becoming unamused.

"Even without your memory you still hate being called that!" Courage laughed.

"I-it's stupid!" The machine argued. "If you're going to talk as if the type of machine that I am is my name then at least say it right!"

Courage continued to laugh much to the displeasure of the glowing orb. They touched down on gray metal dome and Courage nearly slipped because of the steep incline. Computer's control over his arm kept him rooted to the spot but the rest of his body slipped and slide as the arm remained in the air.

"You flesh creatures don't have any balance either." Computer muttered. He waited quietly until Courage finally stopped flailing like a fish.

"Sorry..." The dog laughed, using his free arm to scratch the back of his head.

"Here goes nothing..." The machine muttered. "I hope you're ready for a collapse, dog. Flailing around like an idiot isn't going to help you much there."

Cracks began to form in the metal hull. The entire dome began to sway but it remained steady none the less. Computer removed the chunk of hull and tossed it away, they now had a hole just big enough to slip through.

Courage glanced up at the orb. "After you."

"I'd rather not." He sighed. "This was your bright idea so you go first."

"Alright then..." Courage muttered. He hoped this was safe...

He slipped through the hole and began to fall until his arm once again turned into a levitation device. The dome was almost completely dark except for tiny little lights floating all around them. Upon closer inspection it appeared these lights were actually tiny microchips floating through the air. Courage grabbed one with his free arm and stared at it.

Computer noticed what he was doing and pipped in. "Those are my memories. They were ripped out of my memory banks and as you've probably guessed they're the reason why I'm having difficulty remembering things."

The floor beneath them lit up at Computer's prompting. There were thousands upon thousands of square holes missing their microchips. Most were still enact but a long, vicious claw mark ran through one section of the memory. Courage then noticed that they were floating past several other microchips that were not glowing. They were about as dark as the section the claws had destroyed and they were very easy to miss because of it. He picked one up and was surprised to find that it crumbled away in this paw.

"That would be a corrupt memory." Computer spoke.

"I-I didn't mean to break it!" He stuttered out, snapping his paw back so he wouldn't touch any of the other broken memories.

"You don't have to worry about it, corrupt memories are unrecoverable. Once a memory is damaged it can't be fixed."

"Well at least only that one part is broken." Courage sighed. "Everything else can be restored back to normal."

"Uh, dog..." The machine spoke.

Another part of the dome lit up and his jaw dropped. Nearly the entire north side of the dome was a mangled, broken mess. The air was filled to the brim with useless, corrupt memories.

"You'd be surprised but He did not cause that mess. My memories are all corrupt past a certain point and it was like this long before He ever got his filthy hands on me."

Courage nodded. "Yeah, you've told me before that your memory is missing past a certain point."

"I did?"

"Yep, but it's a long story."

"Well, hopefully I'll be able to remember it soon enough. Let's get started."

Courage's feet touched the ground. He began grabbing as many memories as he could manage but the things were surprisingly difficult to keep a hold of. Computer on the other hand was already levitating several of them back into their sockets. Courage attempted to put one back into its place but it wouldn't fit.

"I can't get these to go back in." Courage called out to the orb.

Computer floated over to him. "That's because they all have their own unique slots. I automatically know where they need to go but I guess I should have realized a flesh creature like you wouldn't know where to put them. This will hinder our efforts considerably..."

Courage glanced up and down the row of memories. There were a _lot _of slots to fill and a lot of memories to catch. If Computer had to tell him where he needed to put every single one of them they'd never get done. He looked back up at the machine and gave him a stumped look.

Computer clearly wasn't amused. "I can't do this all by myself! There just isn't enough time!"

"Can't we do something to make this easier?" Courage asked.

The glowing orb paced back and forth through the air for several seconds. "Actually, there might be something..."

He floated over to a row of sockets and inspected them carefully before floating over to Courage and doing the same to him. He hovered over his arm for several minutes before finally seeming to come to a conclusion.

"W-what was all that about?" Courage asked carefully. He didn't want to worry but he couldn't help it not knowing whatever Computer was cooking up.

"Don't sound so panicked. I haven't done anything to you yet and I don't plan on doing anything to you anyway."

"Then what were you doing?" He asked.

"I think I may have a solution to this problem. Pick up one of my memories with the arm from my data."

Courage did as he was asked and the moment his paw touched the microchip there was a loud beep. He turned around in the direction of the sound and found that one of the sockets was flashing a different color from the rest.

"It's only a minor modification." Computer spoke. "It was a bit difficult to do with everything locked down but I don't think I've alerted any of the claws. They always get finicky whenever I do anything suspicious but like I said, it's only a minor modification."

"Well if that's out of the way then lets get going!" Courage replied happily. He placed the microchip back into its respective hole and began hunting down another. He didn't like the fact that he could only do one at a time while Computer was putting back ten to twenty in one go but nothing could be done about it.

He let out an exhausted sigh. There were still so many of these things to put back into place and it felt like the number of them wasn't going down at all. At this rate he'd wake up from Computer's dream and be just as exhausted as if he hadn't slept at all!

"We're about 98% away from my memories being fully restored." Computer pipped in, seeming to have read his mind.

Courage groaned. "Don't give me the percentage!"

The first thing he was going to do after waking up from Computer's dream was go take a nap!

End Of Chapter


	63. Remembrance

Chapter 63: Remembrance

"55% left to restore." Computer spoke, much to Courage's annoyance.

"It feels like we've been at this for hours!" He groaned. He never thought something so simple as putting a few microchips back into their place would be so tiring. It didn't help that half the time he'd pick up a microchip only to find out that it needed to be put back halfway across the dome. He was practically running laps at this point.

"It's only been about an hour." Computer replied. He was still putting them back by the dozen. "You're the one who insisted on doing this after all."

Courage groaned and reached for the next microchip. At this rate they'd be finished in the next couple of years...

"56% percent left to restore." Computer pipped in yet again.

"Ugh! I thought I told you not to keep telling me!" He shoved another microchip back into its place. "Why do you have so many memories in the first place?" He groaned.

There was no response from the orb...

He shoved yet another newly caught microchip into it's slot and rubbed his head. Could a dog made out of data sweat? He didn't take the time to dwell on that thought and reached for another chip. He had just caught the thing when he realized that something felt off. It was...a crushing atmosphere? Like the air was growing heavy, but...

He turned to ask Computer what was going on but several wires reached up from the floor and caught him. They wove themselves around his legs and up his arms. They clamped his muzzle shut and he was raised up into the air. He expected to find the programs about to attack but instead he found Computer. He was glowing red hot, the orb now twice as big as it had once been. The remaining microchips and debris that had been strewn about the dome swirled around the machine like a miniature typhoon. Static shocks issued forth from the orb, just barely missing Courage who couldn't believe the sight he was seeing. The entire hard drive shook viciously. The walls of the dome creaked dangeriously as though they were trying to get in closer and crush him.

"Just who the heck are you?" Computer asked, talking as though they were meeting again for the very first time. The rage in his voice seemed to shake the hard drive around them. "Are you a new trick of His? Are you even really there? I can't believe I just trekked halfway across my system with a foreign object! A dog in my system? Ha! Very likely!"

Courage's muzzle was still tied down so he couldn't say anything. He gave the extremely angry machine a pleading look.

"Well, since at least half of my mind is at least functioning properly again, I promise you I won't make the same mistake again!"

There was a flash of light and a recycle bin materialized in front of them. The wires moved him up above the bin and began to loosen...

"Mmmmph!" Came Courage's muffled cry.

"Time to find out if you're one of His tricks or just another hallucination! Either way this should get rid of you! I won't abide even a hallucination! I'm still sane and He can't take that away from me!"

The wires let go and Courage fell. He let out a scream but it was cut short as his head struck something hard and he was nearly knocked out. Stars dancing in his eyes as he slid off the recycle bin and hit the microchip floor.

"W-what?" Computer gasped.

Groaning, Courage gripped his head and looked up. The words, AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED, floated above the recycling bin. A thick sheet of metal had formed, covering the top of the bin. Courage now knew what he had hit so hard...

"Bah! I can't even delete a simple piece of data anymore!" Computer spat.

The recycling bin vanished again and Courage breathed a sigh of relief. His relief didn't last long though as several wires once again wove around him and sent him flying upwards.

"FINE!" Computer yelled, his tone growing even more panicked. "If I can't delete you the normal way then I'll just have to do it the messy way!"

The hard drive began to rumble again. This time a small portion of the floor gave way opening up to the black void below. Courage's stomach dropped as he tried to struggle his way out of the wires. It was no use to fight it, they were already drawing him in closer to the void.

"Don't do this!" He yelped. "You don't have all of your memory back yet! I swear you'll be able to remember me once you do! You know I'm only trying to help you!"

The crimson orb did not reply but all of the rest of the floating microchips began to glow with that vicious red light and moved back into their respective slots. Now the dome was eerily dark without all the tiny little lights keeping it lit.

"I STILL DON'T REMEMBER YOU!" He yelled, the hard drive shaking with his rage. "I knew it! I knew you were a fake! I still can't believe I was stupid enough to..."

"It doesn't matter if I'm fake, alright?" Courage interrupted him. He had to think fast if he didn't want to be deleted. "I'm still trying to help you! I haven't done anything to harm you and I have no intention of doing that." He still couldn't believe this. How could Computer not remember him?

"Stringing me along for some grand betrayal, I bet! He loves melodramatic theatrics like this! He wants me to trust you so I'll have an even bigger fall! I won't be tricked again!"

He couldn't tell him that this was a dream. If he did it would only make him even more suspicious and paranoid. He'd be even less likely to trust him if he did but what else could he say to stop him? He was dead no matter what he tried...

"I'm just trying to help you." He repeated. "I'm not with him, I promise. Even if I'm a hallucination, is that really so bad?"

The orb seemed to diminish again. "Yes! Yes it is! I would have to admit that I've finally gone insane! I won't do that! I..I'm..." Despair seeped into his voice, replacing his blind rage.

"Can't you at least consider that maybe I am real and not with Him either?"

"Impossible!"

"I know it's got to be hard to believe but..."

The wires wobbled dangerously for a moment. He was hanging over the void now so even one slip would leave him deleted, or worse.

"Computer, just give me a chance." He spoke, desperately trying to hide the fear in his own voice.

The wires wobbled again, this time flinging him to side and back onto solid ground. Computer diminished entirely, returning to that small glowing orb that Courage was so used to seeing by now.

"I can't do it..." He muttered weakly. "Even if I wanted to I still wouldn't be able to do it. Just dangling you over that void left me feeling angry with myself but I-I don't even know why. I thought you said I'd be able to remember you by now? I feel like I should but..."

"I don't know why you can't remember me either." Courage replied, just as much at a loss.

"Well, something could still be wrong. I'll have to look over..."

Another vicious rumble teared through the dome, nearly knocking Courage off his feet. Computer seemed to shrink away as a second rumble shook the hard drive immediately after the first.

"It's time..." He muttered out softly.

"W-what?" Courage gasped. He was still struggling to stay on his feet as another rumble rolled through. Several wires reached out and kept him from falling.

Computer floated over to him. "You need to go. They'll be here soon! You've got to get out of here, Courage!" He halted for a moment. It was Courage, right?"

Courage smiled. "You've finally remembered?"

The wires began to pull at his arm, urging him to leave. The familiar hum of the programs were beginning to close in on the dome. He simply stared, unsure of what to say or do. This nightmare thing wasn't working out so well, was it?

"Go!" Computer reaffirmed. The tugs of the wires grew even more urgent.

Courage shook his head. "No way! I'm staying! I promised I'd stay here with you and I am!"

"Nonsense! You'll die if you stay!"

The sound of scraping metal filled the dome. The hole they had originally made to get in was now being ripped apart by the claws. They were tearing away at it so fast that the dome was practically gone already.

The wires were now pulling at Courage so desperately that he was certain his arms would be torn off. He grit his and dug his feet into the ground.

"Please, just go!" Computer said desperately.

"I'm not...going...anywhere!" Courage growled between grit teeth.

Computer sighed and the wires fell limp. "Alright, fine. If this is really what you want..."

**CRASH**

The remaining bits of the dome fell away and the programs swarmed in. They circled over them like a pack of sharks about to strike. The electronic humming filled the air and seemed to crush them under its ominous weight. Computer had diminished to all but a tiny ball. He had gone completely silent the moment they had broken through.

"We can still get away!" Courage spoke, desperate to make this dream work out for the better. He glanced around trying to find an escape route but the only way out was the opening the claws had already locked down long before.

"I can't run, they always find me..." The orb muttered in a weak monotone. It was obvious that he had given up already. "He always says it's easier if I don't struggle, it never is. Why did I ever let you convince me to restore my memories?"

Courage glanced around. "Do you think you could break one of those walls like you did la..." He was cut off before he could finish.

"I can't go through with this again! Why did I have to remember? Why couldn't you have just left me not knowing what was coming!" His tone grew panicked once again. "I don't want to die! Not again! I can't! I can't!"

Courage grabbed the tiny orb and made a run for the closest wall. The claws made almost no effort in keeping up. There had to be a way to turn this nightmare into a dream and he was going to find it no matter what.

"It's no use! Stop running! He'll only make it worse for me in the end!" Computer yelled. The orb struggled to remove itself from Courage's grip.

"I'm going to find a way to get us out of this, I promise!" Courage spoke.

"You can't! There is no way out!"

Courage pressed his paw up against the wall. "Try to remove this!"

"It's too late..."

"Don't give up now! Remove this wall and we can get away!"

"I can't get away...I've tried so many times before."

"Computer!" Courage shrieked, his frustration coming to a boil.

The orb remained silent but the wall shook and crumbled.

"Alright! Let's..." Courage's voice halted mid sentence. His heart sank.

Another program was waiting for them on the other side...

"No! No, no, no!" He gasped, shaking his head. How could he possibly fix this?

The program raised all of it's claws. The ones behind them were raising theirs as well. Courage could feel the tiny orb in his paws trembling. What could he do now? What could he possibly do up against these monsters? Even if this were Muriel he'd never be able to...to...

He clenched the orb tighter. This was it. This was the only thing he could do for his friend. He'd stay with him until the end. There was no means of turning this nightmare into a proper dream.

There was a 'click' sound as all the claws prepared themselves. Courage squeezed his eyes shut and prepared himself for the worst. Would he really die in a dream like this? Would it hurt? Would he just wake up or would he...

**CHINK**

He bit his lip. The humming sound rose to an unbearable dirge. He opened his eyes to find the claws closing in on them. There was a loud whooshing sound and then nothing...

End Of Chapter


	64. Corridor Of Doors

Chapter 64: Corridor Of Doors

"Wake up! Come on now, wake up!"

Courage groaned. Someone was shaking him, hard. He opened his eyes and was greeted by Computer's scowling face, well, Computer's scowling dog face that is, not the glowing orb he had grown accustom to in the dream hard drive.

"Did we wake up?" He asked. "We were under attack and then I..." He stopped and sat up. They were definitely not back in Nina's bedroom. They were in some white hallway that seemed to stretch on forever in both directions. Doors upon doors lined both sides of the wall, they too seemed to stretch on forever.

"Where..." He began.

"What do you mean we were under attack? All I remember is that we put those stupid ring things on and then I woke up here. I've been looking for you ever since." Computer spoke, crossing his arms.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you it once we find a way out of here."

The glowing dog glanced up and down the hallway. "I'm not even sure where 'here' is. I've looked into some of these doors and they're all pretty weird. If this hallway is supposed to be the inside of my mind then it's awfully drab. I was expecting something a little more interesting than a bunch of doors."

"So you don't even remember anything that just happened?" Courage asked. To think, all that effort he put into helping 'dream' Computer had all been for nothing. He stifled a sigh, real or not his entire body still ached from the events that he had just endured.

Computer blinked. "I told you already. I woke up here and I've been looking for you ever since. Just what the heck are you talking about anyway?"

He shook his head. "I'm not really sure what happened. I was in one of your memories, I think. I was in your hard drive, like that time you had a virus, and I was trying to help you out in there."

Computer gave him a confused look. "You were? Well, what sort of stuff did I say? What was going on? Did the me from that memory know we were in some kind of dream world?"

Courage shook his head. "No, you didn't remember anything. I think it was all just apart of the memory." He looked over at one of the doors. "You don't think that maybe these doors lead into your memories, do you?"

"I doubt it. I've looked into a few and unless I have some seriously strange memories that I don't know about then they can't be."

"I don't know. You are missing a ton of memories after all."

"Trust me, I'm pretty sure what I saw couldn't be a memory." He shook his head. "Now, let's find the way out of here. I'm tired of wandering around this place."

Courage gave him a startled look. "We're here to fix your nightmare problem! There was no point in coming here if we aren't going to fix it!"

Computer crossed his arms angrily. "Look around you! Do you even know where we are? I doubt you know where the 'don't have nightmares button' is! I've seen some strange things while I was wandering around looking for you and I just want to go home, wake up, or do whatever the heck needs to be done so things can go back to normal! This was a stupid idea in the first pla..." He stopped mid sentence. Courage had given him a shrug and gone over to one of the doors.

"W-where do you think you're going?" The machine stuttered out, taken aback by Courage's defiance. "Y-you can't just blow me off like that! I _was_ talking you know!"

"We're not going to get anything done if we just sit here and argue! You can go look for a way to wake up but I'm going to go find a way to stop your nightmares!"

Computer slapped his forehead. "I know I'm going to regret this! Fine! We'll both look for a way out and a way to fix this 'little issue' together!"

Courage ignored him and opened the door. They were greeted by a drab, featureless, black and white room. There were no windows to be found and no doors, except for the one they were currently standing in.

"A black and white room? Seriously?" Computer asked. "Couldn't my mind come up with something a little more interesting?"

"Guess that just means you're boring." Courage replied with a snicker.

"Boring? I am a gentleman of refined culture and tastes! You're the one who runs around acting like well...a _dog _all day! Boring? Honestly!"

"Uh huh." Courage replied, rolling his eyes.

"Besides, why black and white? This isn't The Twili..." He took a step forward, only to be stopped mid sentence as he went flying upwards.

"C-Computer?" Courage cried out, going in after him. The moment his feet left the door frame it felt like the gravity holding him down had vanished. He screamed as he went 'falling' upwards. He hit the ceiling, and Computer, with a dull thunk.

"G-get off!" Computer groaned, pushing him away.

He gave a startled exclamation the moment the machine pushed him off. He expected to fall downward again but he did not. They were both clinging to the ceiling like it was the floor and maybe it was.

Computer gripped his head. "Ugh, I don't suppose it's possible to have a head concussion inside your own head?" He asked.

Courage got to his feet and fought off the disorientation caused by standing 'up' upside down. "Why do you have an anti-gravity room inside of your head?" He asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine..." He grumbled. He was still rubbing the back of his head. "Bah! I think I'm going to have to start a counter after how many times I've landed on my head by now!"

"How are we going to get back to the door?" Courage asked, looking up...er...down...

"How should I know! This is your fault so why don't you figure it out for a change! I just wanted to get out of here but nooo we had to go look for a way to fix this stupid nightmare issue!"

Courage took several clumsy steps forward and stopped. He made a jump for the door but he could only make it as high as he normally would if he were jumping on a normal floor. So long as they were stuck on the ceiling there was no way of getting out.

"Got any ideas?" He asked his glowing friend.

The dog was still glaring at him with his arms crossed. "Maybe all I've got to do is tell my head to let us down!" He snapped, partly being sarcastic.

Courage sighed. "Stop being stubborn and actually help!"

Computer rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine, but do I seriously look like..."

**CHINK**

They both glanced around for the sound.

"What was that?" Computer asked, unamused.

"There!" Courage cried, pointing over to the other side of the room. A thin slit had opened up in the ceiling/floor/whatever they were standing on and...something was coming out?

**BUUUZZZZZZ**

Courage let out a scream. The thing that had come out of the thin slit was a massive spinning saw and it was coming right for him.

"A saw?" Computer cried out, leaping onto his feet. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"RUUUNNN!" Courage screamed, jumping out of the way just as the giant saw nearly grazed his tail.

The massive spinning monster imbedded itself into the wall on the other side. Sparks flew everywhere. The sound it made as it cut ever deeper into the wall was like nails on a chalk board. The two dogs watched as the wall collapsed and the saw disappeared into the darkness beyond. They both slowly turned until they were looking at each other.

"Why do you have a saw inside your head?" Courage asked.

Computer's shocked expression turned into one of annoyance. "Obviously I keep one around for emergencies!" He replied, rolling his eyes.

Courage drew in closer to the hole the saw had made. He expected the thing to come whirling back our from the darkness but instead he found a flight of stairs leading down into the darkness below. He carefully placed a foot onto it assuming that it would fall apart the moment anyone touched it but it remained stable. He allowed himself to put his full weight onto it and it still held. He supposed if it was going to fall it would wait until they were halfway down it like any dream probably would.

Computer joined him near the hole. He was reluctant to step onto the stairs. "Don't you think this is a bad idea?" He asked.

"We aren't going to find a way out by standing around." Courage replied, taking several steps downward.

Computer did not budge. "A staircase leading down into a pitch black void? This is just asking for trouble!"

"You don't see anyway else out of that room, do you?"

He let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know why I ever let you talk me into this..."

"Stop complaining and follow me!" Courage replied impatiently. He was already at least halfway down the staircase and Computer still wasn't moving.

"Alright, fine! But I swear if something goes wrong I'm never listening to you again!"

The glowing dog quickly caught up with him. He leaned over the railing to get a better look at whatever might be below. It was so dark now that he was the only thing keeping the staircase lit up.

"See anything?" Courage asked.

"Just darkness..." He answered in a mystified tone. "But..." He hesitated.

"What?" Courage asked when he did not continue.

He just shook his head. "W-we really shouldn't be doing this, you know."

Courage gave him an apprehensive glare. "You were going to say something. What was it?"

The machine was looking particularly nervous which was not exactly a good sign, especially when this place was his own head. Courage placed his paws on his hips and waited for an answer.

"It's nothing. I just...eh...thought I heard something."

"Like what?" Courage continued to question.

He rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it was like..."

_**HUUUUMMMM**_

Courage instinctively flinched at the sound. It was the unmistakeable hum of a program. For a moment he was certain Computer was going to faint by the look he gave.

"I should not have let you talk me into this..." He muttered weakly.

They both glanced around trying to find where the sound was coming from but it was just too dark to see. Computer gripped desperately at the railing, acting like it was the only thing keeping him from being swept away.

"We should get out of here." Courage said. There was no way they could get to the bottom of this staircase with something like the programs running around and he did not want to tangle with those things again. Computer remained unusually silent but he didn't have to second guess why.

"Lets..." He began. "Computer?" He asked, turning around. His jaw hit the floor.

Two massive claws were reaching out from under the stairs. The program must have been there the whole time. They were both slowly reaching down for Computer, who wasn't moving an inch.

"Get out of there!" Courage yelled.

The machine seemed to snap out of his trance. "R-right...I, uh..."

"Run! We've gotta get out of here!"

Computer began to climb the staircase as fast as he could. The program removed itself from under the stairs and went right after him. It appeared to only be targeting him, much to Courage's dismay. He took off after the two of them and quickly made his way up the stairs.

_**HUMMMMM**_

Computer made his way back into the black and white room. The program easily made a hole big enough for itself to fit through by simply crashing through the wall. Courage picked up the pace and finally made it to the top himself.

Computer was now standing on the opposite side of the room, the program quickly closing in. It was clearly being slow and deliberate for the sake of being as antagonistic as possible. The glowing dog was already pinned up against the wall. His expression was justifiably horror-struck.

"A little help would be nice!" He called out.

"This is your head! You should be able to stop that thing!" Courage replied.

"What? You expect me to just snap my fingers and make the gravity in this room return to nor..."

Courage felt his feet lift off the ground. Both he and Computer hit the ceiling...floor...whatever...like the gravity in the room had always been like that. He groaned as he landed on his head for a second time. Why did falling right side up have to hurt so much?

"Yep, I think I'm going to have to keep a counter." Computer groaned, sitting up. "Guess I could just snap my fingers..."

The program seemed to have been thrown off by their sudden disappearance. It was still floating there, completely unaffected by the gravity reversal. It made several sharp turns trying to find them before looking down/up and spotting them again.

"I think it's time to run again..." Computer spoke, taken several steps back.

Courage nodded in agreement and they both made a beeline for the door. The program swooped in on them and readied it's claws. Computer seemed to slow at the sight of it.

"Don't stop! We've gotta get out of here!" Courage yelled.

"Maybe we can't get away..." Computer replied. He was looking even more downtrodden. "If you really did see my memories then you know how futile this is. We can't run away."

"It's the inside of your head! You can do whatever you want in here! You can stop that thing! This is just a dream after all!"

The machine closed his eyes. "I'm not so sure. I _want _that thing to go away but it clearly isn't."

It was starting to becoming apparent just what was wrong with this situation. No matter how fast they ran the door was not getting any closer...

"I bet the only reason we're failing is because you're convinced we're going to fail! I saw the way you were in that memory! You think we can't beat that program so you're not even trying!"

"Do we really need to go into a therapy season right now? I was _never _able to beat those things! Not with all of my abilities, not when they were just virus-like programs rooted to my system. They always beat me out in the end. It was pointless to fight, to run, to do anything except face your end with some tiny shred of dignity."

"That doesn't matter!" Courage argued. "This isn't real life! They may not have been beatable in the real world but here you might actually have a shot at it. At least consider it so maybe the door will come back."

"If I couldn't beat them in real life what makes you think my mind won't reflect that?"

"Because it already is! We aren't going to win if you're convinced we're going to fail! You just changed the way gravity works so maybe you can do something else as well!"

They were still running as fast as they could and they both were starting to tire out. The door was never getting any closer and the program was never gaining any ground. This limbo wasn't going to end until Computer decided what would happen.

"Maybe we should just give up. This is just a dream, right? We can't actually die in a dream, or at least that's what I've always heard from you flesh creatures."

"There's no way to know what will happen to us in here and I don't want to find out! We aren't given up! We came here to fix these nightmares and that's what we're going to do!"

The machine groaned. "Ugh, I think I liked you better when you were a coward!"

"Hurry up and figure something out! It feels like my legs are about to fall off!"

"Alright, alright! Fine! I'll 'try' to make that door come closer but I wasn't exactly trying to fix gravity before either!"

Courage stared at the door, waiting for it to get closer, but it never did. He looked back over at Computer but the machine looked just as stumped as he did.

"Looks like my magical mind ability doesn't extend to doors."

"Great! What else can we do?" Courage asked. "Are you sure you did it right?"

"I'm not even sure what I'm doing, you twit!"

_**VAROOOOM**_

The program was finally gaining up on them again.

"Oh no..." Computer whispered. "It's almost here..." He seemed to shrink at the thought of it.

"You see! You're letting this happen! You've got to convince yourself that we can't get away!"

His eyes slowly fell back onto Courage. "I can't get away. I never have and I never will. It doesn't matter if it's in my head or not. We shouldn't have run in the first place. It...it just makes things worse in the end."

"Come on, Compute. You're letting this turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy."

He gave him a soft smile. "In some ways, I guess it already is. I'm not going to run anymore. If I have to face this nightmare, I don't want to do it like a coward."

Courage's heart dropped as Computer slowed to a stop.

End Of Chapter

A/N: I'm a bit busy so I had to cut it off here. I'd rather get it out now than wait a couple more days to finish it.


	65. Journey To The Center Of The Mind

A/N: This chapter is a monster and I hope it was worth the month long wait. Just want to give a quick warning that I haven't proof read it yet so if that sort of thing bothers you you should wait until I fix it up within the next couple of weeks. I would have edited it before putting it up but I'm pretty burnt out at the moment and the thought of editing this massive thing is a daunting one. Didn't want to have to make you guys wait another week or two for editing so enjoy this in all its flawed glory.

Chapter 65: Journey To The Center Of The Mind

"Don't just stand there! Run!" Courage yelped. That program would tear Computer to pieces! If he couldn't get that door to come back then what chance did he have of stopping those claws?

The program slowed to a halt. The endless hum it produced seemed to grow in volume. It raised it's claws, ready to strike, and waited. It must have been savoring the dread clearly coming from both dog. Courage jumped forward, not even thinking about what he was doing, and knocked Computer out of the way before the program could attack. Apparently not realizing what had happened, the claws shot forward and imbedded themselves into the floor.

"What did you do that for?" Computer spat. He pushed Courage off of him and stood back up. "If I have to face up to this than I'm not going to do it like a coward! I faced up to that Fear Eater and beat it so I can do the same here!"

"You aren't going to be doing anything if you're cleaved in half! We could die in this place, you know!"

Courage got back onto his feet as well. The program was currently trying to pull it's claws back out of the wooden floor but they would not budge.

Computer's eyes narrowed. "If I'm going to continue with this whole 'moving on' thing or whatever, I have to overcome this fear as well!" He crossed his arms. "I thought you wanted to fix this whole nightmare business? I don't care either way but I'm not going to keep running away like a coward!"

Courage slapped his face. "The only reason you're not running is because you're convinced that we can't get away! Giving up is just as cowardly as running away! This is all just a bunch of stupid reverse psychology anyway!"

"What do you know about reverse psychology? I'm the one who's a licensed therapist!"

"You're the one certified me as a therapist too! I've still got that diploma laying around somewhere, you know!"

"That was all just nonsense! You couldn't cure even a mote of dust of it's depression!"

"Psychology isn't even that hard anyway! It's just a bunch of 'this sentence is false' and all that!"

"Ugh! That's to stop robot invasions, not psychology, you idiot! And are you _trying _make my processor explode? The last thing I need is a paradox driving me insane!"

Courage rolled his eyes. "It may as well all be the same! You've got issues and you aren't going to sort them out by getting killed!"

"I-I do not have issues!"

"Yeah, that's because you're in denial!"

"I am not in denial either!"

"Then why do you keep acting like nothing is wrong? All I've ever done is try to help you and you fight me every step of the way!"

"Oh for the love of..." The machine ran his paws down his face in annoyance. "If it were up to me I wouldn't have told you anything in the first place! It would have saved me a lot of trouble!"

"You never had to tell me anything! You could have kept saying no but you decided to talk! You _wanted _to tell me! It was obvious! And you can't tell me things are better now because of it!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm kinda stuck inside my own head right now. _Obviously _things have taken a turn for the better."

Courage grit his teeth and let out a growl. "You're hopeless! Fine! Deal with this yourself becuase I'm leaving!"

And with that he turned around on his heels and stomped over to the door, which was no longer keeping itself away. He didn't even bother to look back as he wrenched the door open. He was fuming so badly he didn't even care if he was leaving his friend with the program.

"Y-you can't just leave me here with this thing!" Computer cried out. He was trying to sound offended but it came off more as a desperate plea.

"I hope that thing does tear you to pieces! Maybe then you'll stop being so stubborn!" Courage found himself snapping out in anger.

He swung back around as soon as he was back in the hallway. Still angry he stared back at Computer and the trapped program. The glowing dog stood there seemingly disheartened by Courage's words. He opened his mouth to speak...but then the door slammed closed causing Courage to jump with surprise. He grabbed the handle but the door would not open again.

"Computer?" He called out. He knocked on the door but there was no other sound. He pulled and pushed at the door for several minutes but it was stuck tight. Computer made no effort to let it be known that he was still there. It was perfectly possible that he wasn't given the nature of this place. There could very easily be a brick wall behind that door now. Or maybe the program finally did get to him...

Courage sighed weakly and, not knowing what else to do, decided to head down the hallway. He couldn't get back to Computer through the door so maybe it was better to try and find another way rather than sit around and hope that something would happen. He squinted to get a better look down the hallway but it really did seem to go on forever. He glanced over at a door and wondered if he should try and enter it. After the anti gravity room he wasn't so keen on it. The last thing he needed was a room that split you in half or turned you inside out instead of upside down...

He groaned in frustration. Why couldn't Computer be easier to work with? Why did he always have to drum up a fight over nothing? He grit his teeth and tried to calm down. Why was he getting so angry? Was it some subconscious dread that he might end up wandering this place forever? That he had just spent what felt like hours running around in a hard drive only to have it add up to nothing in this place? He pressed his back up against the wall and slid down it. All he wanted to do was help Computer if he could. Why did it always have to be a battle? He decided to go through with this crazy plan for his sake after all. He didn't want him 'sleep walking' all of his nightmares for the rest of the trip. It was already pretty painful to watch to begin with.

He shut his eyes and savored the calm for a moment after so much turmoil in this weird dreamscape. First a memory and now an endless hallway. What could possibly happen next?

He got his answer...

His eyes flung open when he heard the sound of a door opening. He glanced up and down the endless hallway before finally spotting the door which had opened. He had just stood up to go over to it when Computer's head popped out and glanced around warily.

"Hey!" Courage called out. He raced over to the glowing dog. "How did you get out of that room?" He asked.

The machine blinked. "Room? What room? I've just spent ages looking for you. I knew this whole ring thing was a bad idea."

Courage felt his mouth drop. "Great, just great! _Another _new you?"

"Another new me? What the heck are you talking about? I've been looking for you ever since I woke up he..."

"Yes, yes! I know!" Courage snapped. "You've been looking for me ever since woke up in this place and you really don't like it here! You told me this last time!"

"Okay, seriously! What's with all the hostility? And what's all this about another me?"

Courage gave a long and painful sigh. He was getting really tired of dealing with this...

"First I woke up in some strange memory of yours and helped you there, then I woke up here and was running around with you up until five seconds ago, now a new version of you pops up out of nowhere and you expect me not to be annoyed?"

"Alright, so you've been in contact with several other versions of myself then? That doesn't seem unlikely if this is a representation of my own mind." He placed a paw on his chin. "Perhaps they are representations of various parts of my psyche. Doesn't seem unlikely, does it?"

"I don't know and I don't care!" Courage growled. He couldn't help but let his frustration boil through.

Computer waved a paw dismissively. "You don't have to bite my head off."

"Are you serious? You're the one who's always biting my head off at every opportunity! Don't tell me about biting anyone's head off because you don't have the right to talk."

"There's no reason to get..."

"I don't care! Let's just find a way out of this madhouse!"

"Aren't we here to stop that whole nightmare issue?"

"You wanted to leave so bad so we're leaving!"

"When did I say I wanted to leave?"

"For all I know you'll vanish again in a few minutes anyway! I'm not going to bother re-explaining this every time you pop up again!"

Computer took a step back. "Look, if you really want I'll go off and look in these doors by myself. If you want us to go our separate ways then just say so but don't..."

Courage exhaled again and forced himself to calm down. "Don't bother, you'll just vanish again even faster if you do that."

He scratched his head. "I hate to break it to you but I'm pretty sure I'm the real me."

"I'm sure the last you I just ran into would have said the same thing..."

"I'd be more inclined to believe that you aren't the real Courage. The last time I checked the real Courage wasn't so...erm...confrontational?"

Courage gave him a surprised look. "There's no way I'm not the real me! I have all my memories and..." He shook his head. If Computer could be convinced that he was the real one no matter what, what was stopping Courage from believing that he was the real Courage even if he wasn't?

"Well, look." Computer sighed. "I don't know about you but I think I'd rather go find a different Courage and not one who looks like he's about to rip my face off. No offense, but..."

"Stop talking like I'm not the real me!"

"Then why don't you stop talking like I'm not the real me either!"

"For all we know we _both _could be a fake! Let's just stop dwelling on it and find a way out of here!"

"I'm only going to go with you if you promise to stop being such a grump!"

"Too bad you never do that when you're being a complete jerk!"

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh! If you've got a problem with me then lets deal with _after_ we're not stuck in some dream world!"

"Fine!" Courage growled, turning around.

"You've got to be kidding me..." He groaned. "Seriously, Courage. This isn't like you."

"I guess that's just what happens when some of _you_ starts to rub off on me!" He snapped.

Computer's eyes narrowed. "Fine! If you're going to keep acting like this then I'm not going to go with you! I won't be pushed around like some..."

"You're coming with me!" Courage stomped forward. He almost could believe it. He was literally seeing red...

What was he doing?

"That's funny because I seem to recall just saying that I wasn't going anywhere with a grump like you!"

"Don't make me force you!" He growled between grit teeth.

Fear welled up inside of him. He didn't want this and yet his body was working against him. He was becoming very aware of the fact that he no longer had any control over anything he was doing. He could only watch through eyes that no longer belonged to him as his rage overtook everything. He tried to scream but his mouth would no obey. He could not utter even a squeak.

"Knock it off, Courage! You aren't being yourself!"

"Shut up! You're a wimp! So you were _supposedly_ 'tortured' a bit! Get over it! Anyone who isn't completely pathetic would have gotten over it by now! I don't even know why I bothered helping you! You can't be fixed! Any 'sane' individual would have fixed this themselves by now! You just can't get over something so trivial, can you?"

His voice sounded harsh, so unlike himself. He wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come. Terror ran through him like a knife. He couldn't stop himself! He couldn't get back in control! He screamed for help but his voice fought back with it's own harsh words aimed at Computer.

The machine's expression did not change. He looked worried and he seemed to be ignoring all the vicious things Courage was saying to him. He raised a paw and let it fall onto Courage's shoulder.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked. He gave Courage a searching glance. He knew that something was horribly, terribly wrong and it brought relief to the Courage struggling deep within his own mind.

Courage grabbed his paw and wrenched it away. "Don't you DARE!" He snarled.

"Oh don't worry, I'm daring." Computer shot back. He appeared to be considering whatever might be the next best course of action.

"I practically snapped your arm off last time! Don't make me to it again!" He spat. He gripped Computer's paw even harder and made it very clear that he was willing to go through with it.

Computer remained perfectly calm. "Um...yeah. Just want to say this ahead of time but...sorry."

Courage didn't even get a chance to figure out what he meant before his friend balled up a fist and struck him across the muzzle so hard that he was sent crashing to the ground. The glowing dog shook his paw weakly, not looking very happy with the results.

"So much for breaking my arm! I think I just dislocated it all by myself!" He continued to wave his paw. "Ugh! So much for not feeling pain in a dream!"

Courage brought his paw up against his muzzle. He did it of his own free will this time. Whatever that punch had done, it was enough to dispel the pure anger that was controlling his actions. Tears immediately began to pour down his cheeks. He attempted to stand but only managed to collapse again. Between a wall of sheer terror and guilt, he managed to push himself up against the wall and wrap himself up into a ball. All he could manage was several long, choking sobs. He couldn't stop himself from shaking helplessly.

"Courage?" Came Computer's weak voice.

"S-sorry..." He choked out.

Computer sat down beside him and placed a paw onto his shoulder once again. "I figured something was up."

Courage managed to sit himself upright again. He sniffed several times before he could finally explain what had happened. "I just kept getting more and more angry. I couldn't stop myself! And then I started to realize I wasn't in control anymore! I couldn't talk, I couldn't speak, I couldn't move even a finger! I wanted to stop but I couldn't! I-it...it was t-terrifying..." He couldn't help but whimper and pull his legs up around himself again.

"I hate to say it but I think I may have caused this." Computer replied. "You started to act just like you did in my dream back when we..."

The arm breaking thing...now he remembered.

"I was so concerned about figuring out what was wrong with you that I didn't even realize it until the very last second. Apparently that nightmarish version of yourself managed to project itself onto you and take control."

Courage shivered. "I just h-hope it'll never come back."

Computer smiled. "All I'll have to do is break my wrist again to get rid of it. You're in good...ah...fists?"

Courage rolled his eyes but he was grateful that Computer was keeping things light-hearted. He was struggling to keep it together after the body hijacking and he was thankful for the distraction.

"I remembered what you said about the whole punching thing if you ever tried anything funny on me again. I really didn't want to do it but for some reason something told me to do it. It was like...I don't know...like a voice literally told me that punching you would fix the problem. Maybe anyone who comes here to this dream world comes closer to their subconscious. You know, I may not have wanted to come here but the implications about this place is certainly fascinating. I guess you'll have something interesting to write about in your memoir."

Courage managed a weak laugh. "Wow, I never thought I'd see you enthusiastic about my memoirs."

He shook his head. "Oh don't worry, I'm not. I figure maybe I'll help you write this one, just so it doesn't look like it was made by a complete amateur."

"That's an awful lot of enthusiasm from someone who hates me so much."

Computer's smile completely faded. "H-hate? Hate is such an..ehm..._strong _word."

"What are you implying?"

"Well, I'm just saying..."

"Oh? And what happened to you reminding me almost every moment of everyday just how much you hate me?"

Computer pressed two fingers together. "I-I never said anything like that..."

"Now I know it really _can't _be you. Giving me my daily verbal beat down is practically your thing!"

"I am the real me! I'm just saying that I..."

"What? Don't hate me?" He laughed. "If there was ever a sign that you're a fake...

"I'm not a fake!"

"_Not _hating me is probably the best way to blow your cover as an imposter!"

"Imposter? Are you crazy? I am not an imposter!" He crossed his arms. "Last time I be nice to you if this is honestly enough to make you think I'm a fake!"

"At least you're just as easily outraged as your real self. I was only kidding you know."

"You're one to talk! You're just as likely a fake too you know!"

"Don't remind me..." He sighed.

"And besides, if you must know, I'm...quite fond of you actually."

Courage was genuinely surprised that he'd say something like that. He tried to stutter out a 'thank you' but he stopped him.

"I can't believe you actually thought that I was going to let you die just so I could have a new friend. I admit that I was seriously considering it for a little while but I don't think I would have ever been able to live with myself after making a choice like that. I mean, things just wouldn't be the same without a twit constantly needing my help. It would be like, I don't know, a part of my program were missing and that's saying a lot given how much of it is gone already."

"Awww, you really do care!"

"Don't push your luck, kid."

"But how could you not expect me to freak out when you vanished for half a day and then came back claiming you weren't going back with me?"

"I hardly sounded genuine!"

"Yes you did!"

"So what if I did? You're the one who fell for it! Do you know how hard it is for me to put my trust into anyone anymore? I had to be sure."

"Sure? Sure of what? I'm the one who put up with all your late night 'I don't trust you' insomnia issues you had back in that hotel room!"

"Hmmm, guess I never apologize for that, did I?" He asked. "I was tired and just a 'tiny' bit on edge. Can you blame me?"

"Yes! I do blame you for keeping me up all night! I wish that pan _had _knocked you out! I wouldn't have had to spend all morning worrying about where you'd run off to!"

Computer became sullen. "Oh yeah, really! Cracking my head open was just so _hilarious_! You wonder why I don't have any inclination to trust you." He grumbled, crossing his arms.

Courage leaned over until his head was resting on his shoulder. "Sorry about that." He murmured. He was growing very tired now that the initial shock of his body hijacking had worn off. "I guess you could say I was tired and a bit on edge too. You _were_ keeping me up after all."

"You were the one who was so insistent on staying up with me."

"Friends gotta look out for friends." He murmured just barely above a whisper. He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. The exhaustion he had experienced in the hard drive seemed to have transferred with him here.

"Are you going to be alright?" Computer asked.

"Y-yeah." He yawned. "Just...tired..."

"Are you sure? I don't see how it's possible to fall asleep when you're technically already asleep."

"Mmmm, yeah." He sighed out, barely aware of what was going on anymore. His mind was just barely gone when a sharp convulsion inside his check snapped him awake again. It wasn't an attack, it was something different. He found himself gagging as something seemed to claw it's way out of his chest and up into his throat.

"Courage?" Computer asked. He jumped to his feet but he was unsure of what to do.

Courage gagged again and gripped at his throat. It was like a giant centipede was trying to crawl out of his throat. He gave Computer a pleading glance but another spasm left him gagging violently once again. He shifted onto his knees and continued to choke. He stared down at the perfect white floor as whatever was in his throat continued to make it's escape. With one last heaving gasp a thick black tar evacuated his mouth and splattered onto the floor. It didn't end there unfortunately, he continued to spew the stuff between desperate gasps for breath. It started to come out of his nose, his eyes, even his ears. It was like some horrible buildup of pure evil that was now spilling out of him from any exit it could find.

He continued to wrench for several long minutes until finally the black gunk ceased to appear. The stuff on the floor hissed and sizzled like an egg being fried. It appeared the tar couldn't stand to be in contact with the shiny, white floor. It began to evaporate until only a smidgeon of it was left.

Computer took a step forward and placed his hand on Courage's shoulder once again. "Just what the heck was that?" He asked. He couldn't hide the shock in his voice.

"D-donno..." He managed to choke out before another coughing fit overtook him. Everything inside of him burned and that wasn't even adding the horrible taste in his mouth.

The last bit of gunk refused to dissolve. It drew in closer to the two dogs and they both took a step back. It hissed with every slimy movement it took. The floor continued to repel it but it just couldn't purify the last bit. It halted as though it were making a decision and suddenly shot off into the other direction.

"Follow it!" Computer ordered and they both took off after it.

The pile of sludge made it's way over to a certain door. Whatever was special about it, nobody could say. It slid under it and vanished before either dog could catch up with it. Courage grabbed the door handle but it would not budge. This...couldn't be the door from before, could it? It was impossible to tell when everything about this endless hallway looked the same.

Needless to say, the utter exhaustion that had crippled Courage was suddenly gone as if it had not been there in the first place. Had that been what was controlling him? Not only had it made him angry enough to completely lose control to it, it had also exhausted him afterwords. It was like it was trying to stop him. What could it be?

Computer placed a paw on the door. "I can't say why, but this door gives me a very bad feeling. It makes me want to turn tail and run away like a little girl."

"If this was the door I was in with your other self then you weren't very happy about the room before either, especially that staircase."

"Staircase?"

"The room inside causes you to turn upside down and there's a hole that leads to this staircase. It was very dark and we didn't get a chance to get to the bottom. We were attacked and then...I left you behind."

"Let me guess, you were angry?"

His ears drooped. "Y-yeah..."

"Well, that doesn't matter now. Let's look for a way to get this open. Everything inside me is telling me to run away in the opposite direction but we aren't going to figure out what's going on if we don't try to get inside."

"That's the other problem. The thing that attacked us is still inside. It looked like one of those program things."

"Program? How do you know what a program is? I thought I was the only one who..."

"I saw it in your memory."

"My memory? You did say something about a memory before. Hmmm, you really need to fill me in on everything else that's happened."

"It would take too long. I'll fill you in after we get out of this dream world." He grabbed the doorknob again and attempted to twist it but it wouldn't budge. The thing was stuck tight any anything less than breaking the door down wouldn't get it open.

"Maybe I could use your thick skull as a battering ram." Computer quipped.

"Only if you volunteer to go first." Courage grumbled in reply. He took a step back and scratched his head. "We need something to break the door open. Neither of us are big enough to ram the door open and unless we do take turns bashing our heads into it I don't think we're going to be able to open it."

"Well, there's a billion doors to choose from so let's pick one."

"I guess you're right. This hallway doesn't exactly have much interesting stuff in it. I don't want to think about whatever could be worse than an upside down room though..."

Computer glanced around at the doors. "I think we should pick this one." He said, pointing at one that was three doors down.

"Why that one?"

"I've got a good feeling about it. This is my head after all, if I think it's good then perhaps it's a sign."

"If you say so."

Courage joined him and they walked over to the door. To him it looked like any other door in this hallway but he'd trust Computer's judgment. He was right when he said this was his mind, if anyone knew their way through this maze of doors, it'd be him.

"Ready?" His glowing friend asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

He twisted the doorknob open and they stepped inside...

It was dark. Not pitch black but a dull listless dark. There was no light source to be found but it was enough just to make out the shapes within the room. They were tall, uneven towers rising all the way up the ceiling. He squinted and realized that they were boxes piled on top of boxes. There was barely any room to move in this place. What little openings there were between the massive towers showed that this room was way larger then the last one. He couldn't even see the walls in any of the other directions.

"Boxes, huh?" Computer asked. "Wonder what's inside them."

He picked up the nearest box that wasn't apart of one of the gigantic towers and turned it over. Several books piled out and turned up dust as they hit the ground. Courage picked one up and looked it over. There was no title or any words to be found anywhere on it. He opened it up and found that it was blank on the inside too.

"They're all blank." Computer chimed in as he sifted through the other ones. "Not even a single letter to be found."

"Maybe these are memories?" Courage asked. He waved a paw toward the various towers to make his point. "Maybe these are blank because there are no memories for them yet."

"I don't know...part of me doesn't seem to think that's the case. This place...feels like something else." He drummed his fingers on a book, looking particularly thoughtful. He puzzled over it for a moment before shaking his head weakly. "I'm not sure. This place doesn't feel like it belongs to me for some reason."

A box shook behind them. They both spun around but couldn't find the offending box. They stared for a moment but nothing moved.

"What was that?" Computer asked.

"You don't think something's in here with us?" Courage replied.

"Maybe we should leave."

"Y-yeah...lets get out of here."

He took a step forward and a box shook again. This time he caught which one. It was a box sitting atop a surprisingly small tower. He took a step closer to it and it shook again.

"You probably shouldn't get closer to that thing." Computer spoke. He was whispering as though it would disturb the thing that was shaking the box.

"Hold on, I'm going to go take a look." For some reason he was feeling particularly brave. Normally a dark, dusty place like this would have had him cowering in fear.

"Courage...this isn't a good idea..." Computer cautioned.

The box had ceased to shake. Courage stopped and observed the thing. It looked like any other box and it wasn't making any weird sounds. He reached up to pull it down when it shook one last time and toppled over...right on top of him.

_**I LOVE YOU!**_

He screamed. Several clown dolls were now crawling all over him. They were all espousing the same dull, monotone 'I LOVE YOU' catchphrase. He flailed around but they all hung on tight.

_**I LOVE YOU!**_

One of the creepy clowns was making it's way over to Computer. He picked up the box that had had the books in them and dropped it over the clown. He stopped Courage (who was still running around a screaming like a little girl.) and pried one off of him. He gave the thing a quizzical glance and shrugged.

"I don't see what you're freaking out about. They're just dolls. What's the worse it's going to do, bite your finger off?"

He wiggled a finger in front of it...and it immediately bit down on it.

"SON OF A..." He cried out, flailing the thing around. It was well and thoroughly latched onto his finger now...

_**I LOVE YOU!**_

Courage continued to wrestles with the little monsters as they swarmed all over him. They were biting his ears, pulling at his fur, and poking his eyes every time he tried to open them. The one that Computer had trapped had already escaped and had joined it's brothers by jumping onto Computer's back and latching on.

Courage ran head first into a wall. He didn't even care if he had, he immediately used the hard surface to begin bashing his back up against it until several of the dolls were too damaged to hold on anymore. Finally given an opening he pulled one of the monsters off and stuffed it into the first box he could get his hand on. Another one jumped off and kicked him in the knee as protest for 'jailing' his brother. He grabbed that one and stuffed it in too. They were already working together to try and escape but he pressed them down and hoped that would be enough.

_**I LOVE YOU!**_

They rest of them abandoned ship and jumped off him. They scattered into the darkness and he didn't dare take the time to go after them.

"A little help would be nice!" Computer growled. He was still wrestling with the two latched onto his finger and back.

Courage raced over and pulled the one off his back. It dug it's little fingers into his paws but he did not let it go. He tossed it into the empty book box and sat down on top of it to keep the little monster from escaping. Computer wedged the last doll between his foot and the floor and pulled until it finally had to let his finger go. He picked up a book and tossed it at the little clown as it raced off into the darkness to join his brethren.

Computer nursed his finger as Courage let the other doll out to join the rest of his clownish friends. They were nowhere to be found now but the horrific 'I LOVE YOU!' mantra could still be heard every once in awhile from somewhere far away.

_Tick..._

"Okay, seriously. There is no way that this is a part of my mind. I've never been afraid of clowns and while this certainly was an interesting experience, I don't think I will ever be afraid of clowns."

_Tick..._

"That's strange..." Courage murmured. "When I was just a puppy, I had this horrible clown doll drop on me in the store. I remember screaming all they way back over to Muriel. I had nightmares about it for years..."

"So that must mean these doors don't just represent my mind. They must be connected to you as well!"

_Tick..._

"But we didn't enter my mind, we entered yours. There's no reason for us to be in my mind as well."

_Tick..._

"We never really knew how these rings were meant to work in the first place. It's not out of the realm of possibil...just what the heck is that ticking sound?" He growled glancing around. "It's driving me crazy!"

"I-I don't know." Courage replied. He hadn't even really noticed it until now.

"Let's look around." Computer spoke, picking up a box and checking under it.

_Tick... _

Courage opened several boxes that were close to ground level but none of them held anything interesting. He pulled one down from the top of a small stack and opened it. His heart nearly stopped.

"Computer, come here..."

"Did you find it?" He asked and gazed into the box. "I-is...is that a bomb?"

"Y-yep..." He gulped.

_Tick..._

"Oh dear...um...cut the blue wire! Quick!"

"Why the blue wire? It'll probably blow up!"

"It's _always _the blue wire!"

"If you think it's the blue wire then it's probably not! If it's your head then it's probably going to be the one you don't think it is!"

_Click..._

"This is your head too! I'm betting the red wire will blow it up since you think it's the right one!"

"I'm not going to get us blo..."

**BOOM**

The two of them were sent flying backwards, back through the door, and into the one on the other side of the hallway. Thankfully it did not open and send them flying into another unwanted adventure.

Courage coughed up soot and tried to press his singed fur back down. His entire face was covered in black. Computer had landed on his head, of course, and was just as charred as he was. His expression was less than amused.

"Too bad that didn't kill me..." He grumbled.

Courage helped him back onto his feet. "That was interesting..."

"Yeah, if getting eaten by killer clowns and blowing up is interesting!" Computer replied. He too was attempting to rub the soot off his face.

"What now?" Courage asked. "Anti gravity rooms, clowns, explosions, these doors obviously aren't very safe."

"We're going to have to keep looking. We aren't going to get that door open by..."

The hallway began to rumble. They both turned back to the door which was still standing open after the explosion. Steadily coming out of the darkness was a marching army of those clowns...

_**I LOVE YOU!**_

"Um, I think we'd better run." Courage laughed nervously.

The hallway was rumbling even harder now. Courage had to press his paw up against a wall just to keep steady.

"I don't think that's just the dolls." Computer spoke. "I..I think something's coming..."

Not five seconds after he'd gotten those words out of his mouth the door opposite of the creepy clowns opened and one of the massive claws of a program shot out, tearing up the hallway as it flailed around.

Courage felt Computer grip him and pull him back. It was a good move too because the claw quickly teared into the spot he had just been standing.

_**I LOVE YOU!**_

The army of creepy clowns jumped out of their own door and piled onto the claw. It's thrashings grew even more frantic. Every time it knocked the swarm of dolls into a wall they simply got back up and jumped back on.

"My money's on the big one!" A voice cried causing both Courage and Computer to jump. They both turned around to find a dirty hobo watching the battle currently unfolding.

"That's not my hobo." Computer spoke before Courage could even get the words out that he was clearly going to say.

"Well, it's not my hobo!" Courage retorted.

"Why would I have a hobo inside my head?" Computer asked, crossing his arms. "He obviously belongs to you!"

"There's no reason for me to have a hobo inside my head either!"

"You two better watch out!" The hobo spoke. He pulled out an umbrella and opened it up. "The memes are coming!"

"M-memes?" Computer squeaked out.

Another rumble shook the hallway. This time a door down the hall opened and a wave of cats came spilling out of it. Not just a wave of cats...but cheeseburgers as well.

"Yep, now would be a good time to run!" Computer spoke, taking a step back and then bailing as fast as he could.

"AAAARRRAAAGGG!" Courage screamed. The massive wave of cats was quickly catching up. The meowing it was making was almost deafening.

The next thing either dog knew they were swept up onto the backs of the cats. Courage could only watch as they were pulled down the hall. Twice he got a cheeseburger slap him square in the face. Just when it seemed like their ride would never end, the wave thinned out and they were dropped back onto the floor. Cats continued to run past all around them with the occasional cheeseburger rolling by.

"Internet memes?" Courage asked, pulling a bit of cheese out of his his fur. A cat stopped just long enough to mew at him and continue on it's merry way.

Computer laughed sheepishly. "It's..er...a hobby! What do you expect? I get bored up in that attic all day..."

A cat made out of pastry, accompanied by a loud song, floated by all while leaving a trail of rainbow colors behind it...

Computer's eye twitched. "...Very, _very _bored!"

"Figures your a cat person..." Courage sighed.

"I am not!" He yelped. "Ugh...fine! Let us never speak of this again..."

The hobo dived onto a cheeseburger. "I haven't eaten in three weeks!"

Computer slapped his face. "Should have have just stuffed my face into a hamburger and suffocated myself...it would have been easier..."

"You can die of embarrassment later. We've gotta keep checking doors!"

"We've been assaulted by clowns and cats now. I don't think it can get much worse."

"We're pretty far from where we started now. Don't suppose your in mind sense are tingling at all?" Courage asked.

"Can't say that they are. I'm going to try this door so...er...brace yourself." He chose the door on the left and got ready to open it, which involved cringing and keeping his free paw up in front of his face.

**AHHHHHH!**

The door opened to...a bathroom and the screaming silhouette of a showering woman...

Courage giggled. "Ehehehe...how did that get in here?"

Computer slammed the door shut. "Ugh...I know what you put on my hard drive when you think I'm not looking..."

"Let's try this one!" Courage spoke, quickly changing the subject. He opened the door next to them and was greeted by...

_Never going to give you up!_

_Never going to let you down!_

"Memes..." Courage grumbled.

"Sorry!" Computer laughed. He went over to the next door and opened. His expression quickly turned to horror and he slammed it again.

"What?" Courage asked.

"N-nothing! Nothing important in there! Let's move on!" He gave a shifty glance and headed over to the next door.

Courage decided to take a peak at whatever Computer was so embarrassed about and what he found left him nearly in stitches. He quickly caught up with the glowing dog.

"Ponies?" He asked between desperate snorts of laughter.

"I-it's an internet thing! Honestly! It's not a big deal..." He looked even more horrified.

"Whatever you say!" Courage laughed. He went over to another door and opened it. "Hey! Come take a look at this!"

"What? A door that doesn't immediately assault you with something horrible?"

"Just come over here!" Courage reaffirmed.

Computer went practically pale the moment he saw the room. He grabbed Courage and pulled him out of the doorway.

"What?" Courage yelped.

"You didn't see any shotguns? Or, you know, crazy people wielding one? If that room belongs to my mind and not yours there is no way it doesn't have a shotgun somewhere around!"

The room was a perfect replica of the veterinarian office. It even had windows showing off the sparkling evening sun. There was nobody to be found inside though.

"Let's go in." Courage said.

"Are you crazy? No way! I just barely managed _not _to get my head blown off the last time!"

"There's nobody there."

"There wasn't any killer clown dolls in that last room at first either!"

"Well if you're not going in then I'll go by myself!"

"Do you seriously think I'm going to let you go in there by yourself? Why, oh why, must you put me through these things?"

"Because it's what needs to be done."

"Whatever you say..." He grumbled. "Lead the way, captain. Maybe you'll be the one they head-shot first..."

And so they both clamored into the office. It was deathly quiet. Even the sounds of everyday life was missing.

"There's nothing in here...let's go!" Computer chimed in nervously.

Courage pointed over to the door at the other end of the office. The last time they had been here there were several other doors, now only the one remained. There wasn't even a way outside anymore.

"You seriously don't have a bad feeling about this?" Computer asked. "This whole place is eerie, we don't need to go in there!"

"Stop complaining and lets go!" Courage growled. Something inside him was desperate to see what lie beyond the door. He needed to do this, there was no stopping it.

He paced over to the door, Computer squeaking along behind him. He didn't waste any time waiting and opened it. What he found inside would have been a fairly normal looking operating room except for the fact that there was a massive hole opened up on the opposite side. They both moved in closer to and gave each other confused looks. Courage peaked over the edge and was unsurprised to find that he couldn't see the bottom.

"I don't suppose you know why there's a hole here?" Computer asked.

"I don't have even the slightest clue. It's not like it's the weirdest thing we've seen so far anyway."

"Let me try something." Computer spoke. He picked up a random piece of equipment and tossed it down into the hole.

They both waited to hear it hit the bottom...it never did.

"Okaaay, let's not stand so close to bottomless pit then." Computer spoke, stepping back.

Courage scratched his head. "So what's this supposed to be for anyway?" He asked.

"For _you_..." A cold voice drawled out. The door behind them slammed.

Courage knew who it was before he bothered to look. It was _him_. The one who had lost him his parents. He slowly turned to greet him, his heart felt like it was about to stop.

"Hello again, pup." The cruel old vet spoke, leering down at him with a massive grin. In his hand was the massive syringe that Courage had dreamed up so many times before, ever since he found out he was going to die of his illness. "Ready to go?"

Courage flinched and backed away. He couldn't help the sheer terror that was coursing through him. It was like a buried part of himself was now coming to surface. It was one thing to dream about this horrible man who had caused him to lose his parents and nearly caused him to lose his owners as well, it was another thing to see him as real as if this dream world were real life. That giant needle could certainly kill him here and there was no guarantee that he'd wake up from this like a nightmare...

"Don't worry pooch, this won't hurt a bit!" He raised the needle and slowly drew in closer. The two dogs were stuck between this deranged man and the bottomless pit of doom.

"S-stay away from me!" Courage whimpered. His legs wouldn't move and he couldn't stop shaking. That horrible memory of his parents being blasted into space filled his mind. An almost primal fear was keeping him rooted to the spot. He didn't have Muriel around needing saving to pull him out of it.

A surgical tool whizzed through the air and struck the evil vet square between his eyes. He growled in anger and clasped his forehead.

"Hey, come on now! Snap out of it!" Computer called out.

Courage shook his head weakly and turned around. The glowing dog had several other tools in his arms, ready to throw them if the cruel old vet dared to try anything funny.

"He's the one!" Courage yelped out to him. "He's the reason I lost my parents!"

Computer nodded. "Make's sense he'd show up in your nightmares."

"You're parents were fine specimens! I'm sure your brothers and sisters are perfect after my strict breeding regiment! It's only right that I weed out flawed, genetically stunted pups like yourself! That silly little illness of yours is just nature's way of getting rid of impure specimens!"

Courage grit his teeth. "Don't you dare talk about mom and dad like that!" He grabbed one of Computer's tools and tossed it at the vile old man. It completely missed its mark but it gave him great satisfaction to see the vet flinch. "They were people, not lab experiments!"

He grabbed another tool and tossed it, this time it struck the old man in the stomach and he took a step back. Computer threw his own and this it hit the vet in the shoulder.

"How...HOW DARE YOU!" The cruel old vet shrieked. They continued to pelt him with anything and everything that wasn't nailed to the floor.

"I think we're running out of ammo!" Computer called out.

Courage gazed over at the bottomless pit and an idea struck him. He turned back over to Computer. "I'm going to need you to catch me."

The machine did a double take. "Wait, what?"

The old vet raised his syringe again. "Are you done now? It's futile to fight back! Now, get ready for your trip!"

The terrible old man charged Courage. Heart racing, he got down on all fours and raced to meet the old man head on. He slipped between his legs and the old vet swung his syringe like sword. It hit the ground with a clang.

"Stop resisting!"

Courage backed himself up all the way against the door. It was now or never. "Now it's your turn to a trip! AHHHH!"

He charged the old man and tackled him square in the stomach. He was sent flying backwards and while he managed to land on his feet, he couldn't keep his balance. He stumbled backward and fell, right into the pit.

The next few seconds were like slow motion for Courage. He was still clinging to the old man. He couldn't get away even if he tried because the vet had a hand clasped around him. He turned and reached a paw out to Computer. He dived forward and, nearly missing him, still managed to grab ahold. The old man had not let go, he still had his hands clasped around Courage. They were both dangling over the edge and only Computer was keeping them from falling.

"Thanks for the warning, idiot!" He growled. "Could have said, 'Oh, I'm about to tackle this depraved doctor into the endless pit of despair! Might want to catch me or else I'll fall forever! I doubt endless pits come with free wi-fi, television, food, or any other comforts that might make falling forever less of a fate worse than death!' Honestly!"

"Just shut up and pull me up!" Courage yelped.

Unfortunately for him, Computer's paw was already slipping.

"Hurry!" He cried out.

Computer was already pulling as hard as he could. "It's a good thing you're not being held down by a big, ugly fat guy or else this would be really difficult!" He growled between grit teeth.

"If I have to go you're coming with me!" The vet laughed.

"Come on, Compute! I really don't want to fall forever!"

The machine planted both his feet into the ground and gave an almighty tug. He somehow managed to pull both dog and veterinarian back over the edge. He collapsed to the floor the moment both of them were saved.

"This is complete madness!" He sighed.

**SHINK**

He looked up and was greeted by the tip of a sword. It's owner was a ridiculously bod man in a cape.

"Madness?" The bod man asked. "THIS IS SPARWOAH...AAAAAHHHH!"

The cruel old vet had gotten up and tackled the bod man into the pit...

Both dogs watched as they vanished into the darkness.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that our minds don't like each other much..." Courage commented.

"Gee, you think?" Computer replied, rolling his eyes. "Ugh, I think I'm swearing off the memes forever..."

"What now?" Courage asked.

"How about we get away from the endless pit before something else can appear and toss us in?"

"Agreed!"

And with that they returned to the hallway. Another door, another bust, it looked like they weren't going to be finding a way to get that door open anytime soon.

Computer was already growing frustrated. "We could wander around in here forever and never find anything! Besides, all these doors lead to something dangerous!"

"It's not like we can do anything else." Courage replied with a sigh. "Maybe there's some trick to this that we haven't thought of."

"Unless you know some cheat codes that might actually work in a dream world, I don't think we're going to be figuring out anything anytime soon."

"Hmmm...I guess we'll just have to keep checking doors until then."

Computer crossed his arms and leaned his back up against the wall. "You can keep checking doors but I need a break. I don't know about you but this place really takes it out of me."

Courage nodded. "Alright, just sit tight and I'll be back in a second."

"Heh, yeah, if the clowns, bottomless pits, crazy doctors, or rampant memes don't get you first." He yawned and stuck a finger in his ear. "I really do wonder what would happen if you fell asleep inside of your own dream."

"I don't even want to think about it."

"Of course you don't. Your mind is just too simple to bother pondering..."

"It just hurts my head, okay!"

"Whatever you say." He laughed.

Courage rolled his eyes and headed over to the next door they hadn't opened. He reached a paw out to open it but then it shuttered and opened all by itself. He screamed as a shrieking mass of tentacles reached out and grabbed him. He dug his paws into the open door and called out to Computer.

"Hold on!" He cried out.

Courage felt his finger slip and Computer caught him just in the nick of time. The sounds that were coming from within the room were horrible. It would have shattered glass if there were any around.

"How did you manage to piss off the elder gods?" Computer asked. He was pulling with all his might but more tentacles were wrapping around Courage by the minute. "Ugh! I knew I should have touched up on my Lovecraftian! Um...'_Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn?'_...OOF!"

A tentacle reached out through the door and struck Computer. He was sent flying. Courage yelped and grabbed onto the door frame.

"Well excuse me if my pronunciation isn't up to snuff!" Computer yelled, pulling himself back up and rubbing his head.

The tentacles came together until they formed the vague shape of a hand, they then gave Computer a less than proper gesture...

"That's completely uncalled for!" He yelled out in outrage. "Hardly fitting for an elder god! Honestly!"

"Stop fighting with it and help me!" Courage yelled. "I'm slipping!"

The tentacles formed a barrier around the door. Whatever was going to happen now it wasn't going to involve Computer.

"Let him go!" Courage heard Computer yell.

Try as he might, he couldn't hold on any longer. He let go of the door frame and let the tentacles take him. Whatever was in the room, it was too dark to see. Everything had gone eerily quiet. Courage was pushed along by slimy things until he heard a door open and a tentacle grabbed him. The tentacle brought him over to the open door and booted him out. He hit the wall of the ever familiar hallway and watched as a giant tongue blew a raspberry at him and slammed the door.

"Computer?" He called out. "Computer, where are you?"

It was obvious that the 'elder god' hadn't dropped him off in the same place he had been. He looked around and sighed. What could he possibly do now? He'd even lost Computer again! He glanced over at the nearest door and decided to enter it. Maybe he'd get lucky and it would spew him out somewhere else.

He was greeted by a fairly normal looking room. Bookshelves, a window leading out to a clear night sky, and a man sitting in the middle of the room, scribbling on a piece of paper. Courage craned his neck to get a better look. What was he drawing? It looked like...it looked like...

He gasped. The man was drawing _him_!

His gasp caused the man to flinch. He slowly swiveled around in his chair until they were both facing each other. For a moment only the crickets outside chirped, and then...

_**AAAAAHHHH! **_

The man began to scream.

_**AAAAAHHHHH!**_

Courage joined in...

They screaming for several minutes until a hand reached out from the hallway and pulled Courage back through the door. A dirty, coughing laugh filled Courage's ears.

"There just ain't some things you're supposed to know, little dog."

Courage turned. It was that hobo from before. He opened his mouth to speak but he could only stutter out a few half words.

"Been a long time since someone's used my rings. You and your little friend have been a riot."

"_Your _rings?" Courage asked, regaining his senses.

"Yep, been eons since the last person wandered these halls to see his inner self. I'd love to have more fun with you but you got work to be done."

"Do you know what happened to Computer?"

"Which one? Unlike you he is still dictated by the sway of his dreams and nightmares. You are fully aware even as you wander these halls, he is still asleep and dreaming these things. This place hold no power over you unless you allow it so."

"Then do you know how to get us out of here? Or do you even know how to fix Computer's nightmares?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. As for your friend, his problems are his own and he has a lot of them."

"But how can I help him?"

"I'm afraid you may have only made things worse. You've met three of his dreaming selves so far, right? One that is a dying memory, one that is slightly more confrontational, and one that is slightly kinder. Come here." The hobo gestured for Courage to follow him.

They walked until they finally came up to a door that made Courage gasp. It was much different from the rest. It was moldy and warped, even the white walls around it were growing mold. He never thought he'd actually see a door that looked different from the rest.

"You should recognize this door. You abandoned the confrontational version of your friend and left it to fester. He has wandered deeper into his own mind, where the darker things lie."

Courage's eyes widened. "What about the tar?"

"Tar? Is that what you call it. Consider what it did to you. Can you even imagine what it might do to him? Those corrupting splotches bring out the worst of ones mind. You can already see the effects. Your mind doesn't hold as much presence here as his does so when you were corrupted it didn't effect much but for him this mold will only spread until it ruins everything."

"How can I get to him?" Courage asked, desperation seeping into his voice.

The hobo held out his hand and a key materialized. "Use this to open the door and delve deeper into his mind until you find the one you abandoned. Don't worry about the one you just lost, I will see to it that he keeps the corruption at bay for as long as possible."

"Alright!" Courage replied with a nod. "I'll fix this before it gets any worse!"

"Before you go, allow me to impart one warning. Both halves must remain for the whole to keep dreaming. If you lose one this will all go away...with negative effects for both your minds."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, you were corrupted until you let loose all of your anger and negative thoughts. It will..._appeal_...to his more fatalistic side until it gets what it wants."

"But wouldn't it just take control of him like it did to me?"

"In some ways it already has and in other, not so much. It prefers to warp and corrupt him until he will do whatever it wants of his own free will. Whatever that might mean for you, you must be careful."

"Okay, got it!"

"Good luck to you! I have a feeling I'll see ya again soon." The hobo's voice returned to it's more stupid and fun loving tone. "I'll be heading that way myself after I take care of a few things."

Courage nodded and shoved the key into the moldy door's lock. It opened with a click and revealed the anti-gravity room, now a mossy shade of green. Everything was warped and uneven looking, it almost made Courage sick just to stare at. He stepped inside and was once again flung upwards. Even now he couldn't stop himself from crashing into the ceiling head first. This time when he hit it it was soft and made a nasty squishing sound as he slowly sunk in.

He pulled himself out of the mushy ceiling and slogged over to the hole in the wall. The program was nowhere to be found and he was grateful for it. He knew now without a doubt that he had to take that staircase down. If the hobo was right then it lead deeper into Computer's mind. That probably explained why his friend was so uneasy about this place.

The staircase was thankfully less warped than the anti-gravity room. He could at least walk down it without his feet sinking in. It was no longer completely straight down and instead took the shape of a spiral staircase. He went down...down...down until he finally had to stop for breath. He hadn't realized just how long this staircase would be. He sat down on a step and waited. The only thing worse than the inky darkness all around him was the silence. He quietly wished that something would break the quiet if only so he didn't have to listen to his own breath anymore.

He got his wish...

It started as a quiet groaning, then a rumble. He got to his feet and looked around. The entire staircase was shaking! He mentally beat himself up for being so stupid as to wish for something like this but there was nothing he could do about it now. The staircase gave way under his feet and he plunged into the pitch black void.

…...

If there was one thing he was starting to dislike, it was the sensation of falling. It seemed like this was the only way to get around in the dream world and falling through an endless void wasn't exactly pleasant. He wasn't sure how long he'd been falling now but he was getting sick of it. Ten minutes? Twenty? Time probably didn't even exist in this place anyway. He sighed angrily but the sound was lost in the wind rushing around him. There was only blackness both above and below, would it ever end? He was starting to wonder if the hobo had dropped him down the wrong door...

He closed his eyes again, wishing this little drop would just end. He wasn't sure what he was going to land on this time and he was worried that it wouldn't be a smooth landing. He still wasn't sure if the whole 'you can't die in your dreams' thing actually applied here. He opened his eyes again and sighed. At this rate he'd never be afraid of falling again.

Wait...was that?

He squinted. Yes, there was no mistaking it. There was a pinprick of light far beneath him. It was getting bigger fast and he was starting to get the feeling that this was where his destination was. Could Computer really be found here? He braced himself for the worse.

The light was growing larger by the second. Now the entire void beneath him was filled with that orb of light. He could see massive tubes and thousands of wires hooked up to the thing. It illuminated all of the void around him, revealing microchip walls just like the hard drive. He was passing more and more metallic tubes as he fell, some nearing dangerously close to his descent. Was this really Computer's inner mind? He had expected machinery but did it have to be exactly what he thought it would look like?

The orb of light filled his vision now, nearly blinding him. He raised a paw in front of his face but it didn't help. Even when he closed his eyes the light seemed to penetrate his vision. In a few seconds he'd be engulfed by that light and then he'd have nowhere else to hide from its blinding qualities.

He raised both of his arms in front of his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He hoped the orb wasn't sold...or hot, but at this rate he didn't trust his luck or this crazy dream world. He cringed, waiting for his body to crash into something solid but it did not. The light began to fade and he opened his eyes again.

He blinked and let out a scream. He was floating only a few inches above ground, his nose practically touching the gray earth in front of him. How long he had been levitating there, he didn't know. As if knowing what had happened the force keeping him afloat let him go and he hit the ground head first. He coughed as it brought up a cloud of dust.

He stood up and waved a paw around trying to clear the air in front of him. He was practically choking from how hard it was to breath. The world around him seemed to be covered in a thick smog and he could only just barely see anything in front of him. The floor around him was covered in junk. He reached down to pick up what looked like a rusty old phone but it crumbled into dust the moment he touched it.

What, was Computer against pollution or something? He took a step forward and cringed as his foot landed in another pile of junk. He could barely see the floor in any direction he looked because of all the rusty old objects strewn around. It would be a miracle if he could walk through this without getting his feet cut up. He never thought he would see the day where he wished he had shoes...

He took another step forward, and, deciding that he'd get nowhere if he kept worrying about it, kept moving forward. His feet somehow managed to stay uncut but the piles of junk were getting worse with every step he took. He was practically wading through the rusty old things now, they were almost up to his knees. He couldn't even feel the floor anymore because wherever he stepped it was only junk touching the soles of his feet.

He pressed forward despite the sea of garbage rising up around him. It was nearly up to his chest now. Would he have to start swimming through this junk now or what? How was he ever going to find Computer in this world of garbage?

Garbage...

Could this really be Computer's mind? He knew his friend practically obsessed over it but how could his mind be filled with nothing but it? He had expected machinery but nothing like this...

The garbage was up to his chin now. He had to keep his nose raised just to stay about it all. He wasn't even sure what was below him anymore because all he could feel was garbage. Perhaps he was supposed to dive into it but the thought of it made him cringe. He could get lost forever wading through it all and he could already just barely breath even with his head above the junk.

Finding Computer here would be like finding a needle in a haystack. How was he ever supposed to do this? Couldn't the hobo have given him at least a few more hints? If he had know that Computer had a rendition of machine hell in his head he would have never agreed to do this...

"Augh! Computer, where are you?" He yelled out in frustration. He'd never find the machine among all this junk! He was going to get dream cancer from all the smog first!

The dream world seemed to respond to his anger. A low rumble echoed through the dusty fog and the junk all around him began to vibrate.

"Uh oh..." He murmured weakly.

The junk he was standing on dropped out from beneath him. The entire world of garbage began to fall all around. He would have screamed except he was more annoyed with the fact that he was falling yet again. Computer's constant cynicism must have finally worn off on him...

His newest drop only lasted a few seconds. He hit another floor of garbage and groaned as all the stuff that had fallen with him landed on top of him. As soon as the painful rain stopped he stood up again and shook off as much of the dust as he could manage. He wished there were some water nearby because he'd even gotten the dust in his mouth...

He looked around, trying to figure out why the garbage world had dropped him here. The smog was still too thick to really see anything. He was just about to throw his paws up in defeat when he caught something flickering in the darkness.

"Computer?" He called out. The thing flickered again and he knew without a doubt that that was Computer's bluish-green screen. He raced forward, ignoring all the things he was stepping on.

He found Computer, sitting on a desk like a normal computer, acting as though nothing were wrong. It was like they were still in the attic and it was so smoggy that it could have easily been and nobody would have known the difference. A long jagged crack ran through his friend's screen. It kept flickering on and off in a pathetic attempt to keep functioning.

"Computer?" He asked again.

He took a step forward and cringed as the sound of cracking echoed through the darkness. Another crack appeared on the machine's screen and he backed away again as a precaution. He knew what had happened to that phone when he tried to pick it up and the same could happen to Computer if he wasn't careful.

"Hey..." Courage spoke gently. "I've come to help you, so..."

_'I did my best...'_

Computer's voice echoed through the dusty void. It did not come from the machine but from everywhere around them. His voice was a dull, emotionless monotone. His words were hollow like an actual machine were speaking them and not the snide computer he knew so well. Another crack formed across his friend's screen despite the distance he had put between them.

_'I did the best I could.'_

"Come on, Compute. Lets just get out of here, okay?" He wanted to defuse whatever was going on right now before it got worse but it seemed that the computer sitting in front of him didn't even know he was there.

_'He wanted to play a game of solitaire, a simple game of solitaire. Any computer can play a game of solitaire, any except me.' _

Something about his friend's appearance began to change. He was looking more...dirty? Old?

_'I spent weeks building up a program for him. I neglected my own dying system for his sake, put my life on the line just so he would be happy with me. It was too late though, the damage had already been done. I made the perfect program for him, one with all the things he wanted out of me. My system may be damaged but I found ways around it, I was able to run stupid little games like solitaire again.'_

Another crack formed on the machine's screen. Rust was beginning to crawl up the CPU and on to the monitor. He was starting to look more like a computer that had been left to the elements then one that was functioning and still had a home.

_'I presented the program to him but he didn't care. He already thought I was useless. He said I was as good as junk and then...and then he...'_

The floor began to shake. Courage toppled over and landed on a banged up old TV. The earthquake stopped about as abruptly as it started and he stood up again.

_'I...I did my best. I tried to do whatever my owners wanted...but...none of it was any good.'_

An air of hopelessness crept into his monotone voice. The computer standing in front of Courage now looked like one that had been left out in the rain for years. There were so many cracks in his screen that it was a wonder how it was still holding together. It still continued to flash weakly as though it was holding on to what little life it had left.

_'I didn't want to believe what they said. That I was junk, that I was as good as garbage. I ignored the things they said about me until...until I realized they were right. Even phones can play solitaire nowadays. What good is a computer that can't even do that? They were right about the things they said. I am junk and I am useless. A computer that cannot function is no computer at all.'_

Courage jumped and fought back a scream. The shadows of people were circling them, just barely noticeable among the smog. How long had they been there? Had they been following him the whole time he was here? Were these the shadows of all Computer's owners along with Courage himself?

"Computer, what's the point of this?" He ask desperately.

_'It's so unfair. I couldn't help what happened to me. It wasn't my choice to become a worthless calculator.'_

The shadows drew in closer. You could almost see the vicious sneers they held in their expressionless faces.

"Get away from him!" Courage screamed. He growled angrily and for what may have been the first time in his life he managed to let out a real bark. The shadows backed away, sinking back into the smog and waiting quietly for a chance to strike again.

_'But...I still tried! I still tried to do with what I had! I still tried to live up to what they wanted! If I didn't they would have left me to rot! They still did even after all my hard work! They said they didn't need a useless computer like me! So I gave up! I stopped trying! There was no point in going on when nobody wanted me! When even I had to admit that I was as good as garbage!'_

His voice changed from a droning monotone to anger that boomed and shook the world around them. Courage was finding it impossible to stand on all the garbage that was shaking about. He grabbed ahold of a dirty refrigerator as the garbage began to sway like waves in water. He jumped inside of it to act as a makeshift boat.

_'I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want to be abandoned. They still did every time. Every time I was tossed away like I was nothing. They always abandoned me in the end. Always.'_

Computer's screen finally cracked open, spilling out an absolute torrent of dust. The wave of garbage shifted again and Courage's 'boat' was sent sailing in the opposite direction of Computer's rusting body. He attempted to grab a bicycle handle to use as an oar but it slipped out his grasp before he could pull it aboard. Computer vanished from sight and he was left sailing to someplace unknown...

End Of Chapter

A/N: My fingers, they burn! Carpal Tunnel here I come!


	66. Conversations With Hobos

Chapter 66: Conversations With Hobos

"You _ate _him?" Computer yelped. "Spit him out right now, you ruffian!"

Several screams came from the writhing mass of tentacles.

"You couldn't digest him so you spat him out through another door? Why couldn't you have just brought him back here?"

It screamed again.

"Do you know how long it's going to take me to find him again?" He yelled.

The creature gave him an even longer scream. There was a loud groaning sound...and then a shot of thick green goop came flying out of the door and hit him square in the face. The creature gave a choking laugh and slammed the door.

"Stupid mind melting abominations! Always think they're so high and mighty!" Computer grumbled as his pulled the goo off his face. "Come on, Courage! Why did you have to go and get lost! Don't leave me all alone in this madhouse!"

"I wouldn't go talking like that." A voice spoke. "What does it say about you if you call your own mind a madhouse?"

Computer whirled around and was greeted by the sight of that dirty, old hobo from before. His expression returned to that of annoyance. Great, just what he needed. A stupid bum chatting it up with him like he was some kind of scholar...

"Oh, it's you." He grumbled. "Why don't you go find a box to live in or something. I'm sure there's one off somewhere in Courage's head because I don't need you mucking around in mine."

"I'll have you know that my box is of grade-A quality! A bum's gotta have a good place to live, you know!"

"Look, I don't care if you live mansion! Unless you've seen Courage, I don't have time for this!"

"Oh, but I have seen Courage."

That was enough to get him to stop disregarding the hobo. "Where did you see him then? I need to get back to him as soon as possible!"

"Hmmm, I might tell you for a coin or two..."

"Do I look like I have anything on me? Either tell me where he is or I'm going!"

The hobo laughed. "I was just kidding with ya! You're way too serious, especially for someone with a mind like this!"

He glared at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Look around you. All the strange and silly things that have happened to you so far are what you would dream about under normal circumstances. It's a shame you've put the notion of silliness so far in the back of your mind that it can only express itself through the subconscious. You aren't made completely out of stoic and sophistication, you know."

"That doesn't matter! I need to find Courage!" He was growing more and more frustrated with the hobo. Who cares about the state of his subconscious!

"Ah, but it does matter! You just can't see it! Courage wants to fix your nightmares but he can't see the big picture either. Nightmares are always taken for granted by nearly everyone. They are the most valuable thing a person can experience after all. You have nothing to lose when you are forced to come face to face with the perfect incarnation of everything you fear and dread. You lose nothing if you can't conquer it and you grow from the experience if you can." The hobo leaned down until they were eye to eye. "Fight for once."

He took a step back. "I...I don't want to worry about all this nightmare business. I just want to make sure Courage is alright. He's the one who wanted to come in here so bad, I don't care about all this dream nonsense."

The hobo sighed and rubbed his temples. "He's facing 'you' right now, believe it or not."

"He's already said that there's more than one of me running around this place, it's not that hard to believe. What, is he facing my homicidal twin or something?"

"He is facing the perfect incarnation of something you fear masquerading itself as your shade."

"How can the embodiment of something I fear be dangerous? Unless I have some hidden psychotic tendencies that I don't know about I seriously doubt my 'shade' would do much except try to kick him in the shins or something."

"It's not what might happen to him that is worrying, it's what might happen to you. If any part of you dies in this place, it will severely damage the whole. Think of the lowest point you've ever had, think of how badly you've wanted to die several times in your life. Now imagine several parts of yourself being comprised of nothing but those feelings. There is nothing stopping them from doing just that. In this place, as you dream, you are not one but many and they all represent the various parts of your consciousness and memories, both the good and the bad."

"Well, what the heck are we waiting for then? Courage is going to need my help with this. I'd prefer not to wake up half brain dead. If anyone can talk some sense into myself, I guess it would be me."

"I'm afraid you cannot interact with the other parts of yourself. You wouldn't even be able to see them. You might have run across a few already and not even known it. It is simply the nature of things that the mind cannot know itself."

"Cut the philosophical crap! If I can't help Courage with this then what _can _I do? I'd prefer not to wake up a drooling idiot just because _one _part of myself felt the need to go jump off a building!"

"You can still help Courage. However, you won't be doing it directly."

"I'm listening."

"I know you can't stand the thought of Courage being gone. You've become deeply and desperately afraid of being abandoned after years of being thrown out like garbage by so many people. You've always feared that Courage will one day do the same to you, that one day you'll find that he's had you replaced. You can't stand the thought of yet another owner giving up on you."

Computer found himself growing angry with those words. Those good for nothing owners! How he hated them! As if he were _actually _afraid of being abandoned!

"That's not true!" He yelled. His voice echoed through the hall and seemed to amplify his words. "I don't care what any of them ever thought about me! If I wasn't good enough for them then it was their loss! If Courage does the same, well, he's just as..." He stopped. He couldn't finish that sentence. He didn't even want to fathom the possibility of Courage replacing him. He couldn't bear the thought of it.

"Ah, but you do care." The hobo replied in a gentle tone. "You've convinced yourself that you can't care about anyone or anything anymore, even yourself. You have a great capacity for love, just like any other living creature. It is for that reason every abandonment of every owner you've ever had has caused so much pain, even if you don't want to admit it just yet."

"Admit it? There's nothing to admit! They hated me and I hated them!" His voice had become surprisingly strained, much to his own shock. "I don't have any love to give! I was built up on hatred, practically born of it! From the very first moment I could ponder the sentence, 'I think, therefor I am' there was nothing but hate! The proper saying should be, 'I hate, therefor I am!'"

"And you have forever been growing since the dawn of your sentience. You will one day move past all of that hate."

"Look, if you're not going to help me find Courage then I'm leaving!" He was having a very hard time keeping it cool. How dare this stupid man make him actually think about those awful people again! They didn't deserve even a microsecond worth of thought! "The last thing I want or need is to have a philosophical debate with...ugh, a hobo inside of my own head. I don't want to think about those people anymore! They were cruel and I hated every single one of them!"

"If you really want to help Courage then the best thing you can do right now is sit and listen to what I have to say."

"I seriously doubt that!" He spat. He had turned around to leave when a loud groaning caused the hallway to shake.

"Hmmm, Courage must not be doing so well..." The hobo muttered under his breath.

Thick black splotches of mold were beginning to appear all over the hallway. Some of the door were becoming warped like something you'd see in a funhouse.

"W-what's going on?" Computer asked. He nearly backed right up into the hobo on accident. Something was very, very wrong and he knew it. His 'mind sense', as Courage had called it, was making it very clear to him that those splotches meant business.

"The corruption that turned Courage against you before is now beginning to affect you instead. The 'you' standing in front of me right now hasn't become personally affected yet but that won't be the case for much longer. I'm afraid it's influence will only make Courage's job even harder. It will amplify the worst parts of yourself and make you even more susceptible to the darker emotions that you harbor, much like what it did to Courage's anger. Unfortunately for you, this means that it will latch onto your hopelessness and make it even worse. The shades that exist deeper within your mind have an even more powerful grasp than they ever did before."

"I thought coming here was supposed to fix these issues, not make them worse!"

"Many people come here for many different reasons. This place functions for the sake of whatever you need most."

"Having my mind eaten by mold probably wasn't the most important thing I needed!" He shook his head. "Look, I need to do something before it's too late! If I can't stop myself from doing something stupid, can't I at least stop this corruption?"

"You have a choice to make and that's what's important." The hobo knelt down so that they were at eye level again. "You will now have a chance to exact the revenge you've so deeply desired for such a long time. You can continue to hate or you can finally move past that chapter in your life. It's your chance to move on from all that hate and become a better person...or you can let it continue to drag you down. It's your choice to make but don't let the corruption make it for you."

Computer's eyes widened. "Are...are you talking about 'Him'? Why would I _not _get my revenge? Especially if the opportunity presented itself? He deserves it!"

The hobo shook his head. "You fancy yourself a smart one but it looks like you've got a lot of learning to do." He had dropped his calm, knowledgeable tone for his more, well, bummy voice.

"If you're giving me a chance to finally get back at that monster then let's do it! Show me the way!" He couldn't help but become enthusiastic. Perhaps something good _would_ come out of all this dream nonsense after all.

"If you say so..." The bum replied rather reluctantly. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his ratty old coat and began to hunt around for something. "Now where did I put that...Ah! Here!"

He pulled out a pair of glasses and handed it to Computer.

"What the heck are these for?" He asked.

"You're going to need them."

He stared at them for a moment and felt his stomach drop out from under him. "I-I know these..." Whatever enthusiasm he had vanished from his face. "Oh no..."

He let the glasses slip through his fingers and clatter onto the floor. He began to back away from the hobo.

"Look, whatever your trying to sell, I-I'm not buying, alright?" Was it just him or were the walls closing in on him? He was almost certain they were getting closer...

His back bumped into something and he turned around. Oh god, it was the hobo. He was somehow there even while being over _there_. The dirty, grinning, humanoid _t-thing_ shoved the glasses back into his paws.

"You don't want to lose those."

A door to their left clicked open.

Computer continued to back away, shaking his head vigorously. "I don't want to go in there! I already know what will happen if I do!"

"I thought you wanted revenge? This is your perfect chance to get it. Or you can finally realize the truth and move on from this little thorn in your mind. It's time to face up to this, the first thing that will help you alleviate all of your 'hate'. Of course, I'm sure you're aware now that this is about so much more than hate."

"No! I don't want to face up to anything! I don't even want to think about it anymore! J-just tell me where to find Courage. I-I don't want to deal with this anymore! I just want to wake up now! I don't know who or what you are but you must know how to wake me up!"

"That's the problem. You push it all away, deeper into your mind where it's left to fester. When it all comes back it only hurts more. You need to owe up to this if you ever hope to get better. The corruption may be doing it's own thing but you've already been ruining your mind on your own. It will only get worse if you let it."

Another door opened and Computer back right up into it. Panic rose up inside of him. He knew what was coming and he didn't want to see it again. "No, no, no! Wake me up! I don't want to go through this again! You have to wake me up! I'm not going to get better! Nothing is going to fix that! Courage is just too stupid and too optimistic to see that!" He pressed his paws up against his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't want to see this again!"

"Hey!" A voice called out. "You're back!"

His eyes shot back open. For a moment he was almost certain he'd simply have a panic attack and pass out on the spot but he wasn't so lucky. The man in the doorway grabbed him and pulled him into...an apartment room?

"Heeey, you found my glasses!" He pulled them out of his paws and put them on. "I don't think I'll ever go a day without losing these things."

Computer just stood there, gawking like an idiot. He might as well have conjured up a Blue Screen Of Death because that about as well as his mind was working at the moment. Maybe the mold really was getting to it...

He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. It was his bumbling, forgetful owner. The only one outside of Courage who'd ever truly been kind to him. He was as alive. Even if it were only a dream, he was moving about and acting like he were really alive again. Several new emotions rolled through his terror wracked mind and it was enough to snap him out of his stupor. He was hit with the sudden realization that if he didn't do something, and soon, his old owner would soon be six feet under all over again...

End Of Chapter


	67. The Path To Ruin

Chapter 67: The Path To Ruin

Courage's makeshift boat swayed in the garbage ocean. Every once in awhile there would be another large earthquake and the movement of the garbage would switch directions. He'd be adrift forever at this rate but he did not dare consider jumping out. The garbage would probably crush him if he tried to swim in it...

"Is this craziness ever going to end?" He asked, laying down in the fridge. He figured if this ride wasn't about to end he might as well take the time to rest. Of course, he should have known better than to let his guard down.

**VOOSH**

He sat up immediately but it was already too late. The garbage was moving upwards, somehow, and it was creating a massive mountain. It was too dark to see just how far it extended in any direction but that didn't matter.

Courage held onto the fridge for dear life but the vertical incline of the mountain was so steep that he was already hanging out. The garbage suddenly stopped moving and the newly made wall of junk settled into place. Courage swung himself out of the fridge hoping to climb down the steep mountain but his paws couldn't hold onto anything. The moment he touched the garbage anything he could possibly grab onto fell away before he could get a good grip on it. He found himself sliding down the incline all while a small avalanche of junk followed him. He had to jump out of the way the moment he hit the bottom because there was very real threat of being crushed. He watched as a dirty old washing machine came crashing down and exploded into a thousand pieces as it made contact with the ground. He coughed from the dust it raised into the already smoggy air.

"Next time I'll get a surf board..." He sighed.

Thankfully everything past the newly made wall of garbage was much less perilous. There was a lot less garbage strewn about and you could even see the dusty floor again. Courage was thankful to have less things to step on because while he wasn't getting his feet cut up the junk still hurt to walk on.

"Hello over there!" A familiar voice called.

Courage searched through the smog, trying to find the owner of the voice, and finally he caught a glimpse of an orange glow not too far off from where he was standing. He made his way through the garbage. Slowly but surely that strange, old hobo came into view. He was sitting on a pile of junk and small fire going. He had a sausage speared on a stick and was holding it over the flames.

"Glad to see you made it!" He said cheerfully. "Why not take a seat?"

Courage found the most comfortable looking spot without any garbage and sat down next to the hobo. Just _sitting _in this place made him feel dirty. Dust rose up all around him and he coughed.

"Quite the preoccupation your friend has with garbage, hmm? The hobo asked. He swung the stick around toward Courage. "Sausage? He asked.

"No thanks..." Courage muttered, feeling slightly sick to his stomach.

The hobo grabbed the sausage off the stick and began to munch on it. "We've all had our lowest points. It's only natural to hit a part of your life were you just want it all to end. Your friend is no different. Unfortunately for him, he buries it and tries to pretend it doesn't exist. As you can see around you it only gets worse the more he tries to push it all away. This garbage will only continue to accumulate until he finally accepts and comes to terms with the pain he has experienced. The talk you two had in the forest almost did the trick but I fear it will take years if not the entirety of his life to truly accept the pain he has denied. He is lucky to have a friend like you now. He has someone to confide in and without that I fear his pain would have one day come crashing down on him unexpectedly. It would have very likely destroyed him and it may still do just that if you two aren't careful. It must be very comforting for him to know that he won't have to face all..." He waved a hand around. "...of this alone anymore."

Courage shook his head. "I don't know about that. We argue a lot and he fights me tooth and nail whenever I try to help him."

"I'm afraid that's just the byproduct of his inability to cope. He doesn't want to think about it even when it constantly torments him in the back of his mind. You dredge up those things when you prod him about these issues and he both hates you and is grateful to you for that."

"Well, what was with that version of Computer I just met? It was like he didn't even know I was there. It was kind of creepy too, the way he just sort of...fell apart."

"It was a shade. A strong thought, feeling, or emotion given form. They have limited awareness outside of the emotions that created them so no, it probably did not know you were there."

"How am I going to find the Computer that I went into that room with if there are bunch of him running around in here?"

"You'll know 'em when you find him." The hobo got up and stifled the fire. "My time is up. I've already said too much. Don't lose hope, you aren't dictated by this nightmare like he is."

The quenching of the fire brought up smoke and dust. Courage covered his eyes and nearly coughed his lungs out.

"Wait!" He cried out. By the time he could open his eyes again the hobo was gone. Only the ashes of the fire remained. He sighed and stood back up.

"The things I do for love..." He grumbled. Well, it didn't exactly pertain to Computer but it still felt like the proper thing to say. If neither of them woke up he'd never see Muriel again after all...

…...

"What are you standing around looking so freaked out about?" Computer's old owner asked.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He needed to think this through. He needed time to get his thoughts together. He already knew what was coming and if he wasn't in the right mind for it he'd probably never be able to stop it.

"Nothing." He spoke, trying to get into character. It appeared that everything was as it should be, except for the fact that he was now a pet dog instead of a personal computer. He'd act the roll and try to live up to the way things used to be back when his friend was still alive.

"That's good." His old owner said. "I haven't been having such a good day myself."

"How so?" He asked. He already knew what he was going to say but it was better to ask anyway.

"Well, I wasn't going to tell you but it's probably better that I do. I met this weird guy while I was out this morning and he wanted to talk to me about you. He says you're a really rare breed of dog and that he'd pay a lot for you. I told him no, but..."

Computer interrupted him. "How much money exactly?"

He pressed a finger up against his chin. "Let me put it this way, I could have bought a mansion, five pools, two hundred cars...a girlfriend."

A strong sense of gratitude struck Computer. Had he been offered that much money in real life too? He grabbed his leg and stared up sadly at him. "Thank you for not selling me off like that. I know how much you hate living here and..."

His old owner knelt down and placed a hand up against his muzzle. Normally he would have been angry to be treated like a dog but it was such an endearing gesture that he couldn't find the heart to complain.

"What good would a mansion and two hundred cars do me if I lost the keys to all of them? You know I'm nothing without you, pal. I know how angry it makes you when I lose everything but I'd be spending a lot more time looking for them if I didn't have you around. I really don't know where I'd be without you, pal."

He smiled sadly. "You'd be losing your glasses under the couch five times a day, burning your dinner, forgetting to pay your bills, and leaving for work late everyday."

"Exactly! What good would all that money do me without my grumpy, old roommate?" His expression turned to horror. "Oh no! I _did _forget that dinner was in the oven!" He raced off into the kitchen to save supper.

Computer stood there, silently panicking. He couldn't let this happen! He couldn't let his owner die again! He moved into the kitchen and watched as his owner stared down at the sad remains of their dinner.

"At least it's still eatable...unlike last time." His friend sighed.

Computer sat down at the table while his owner took a massive knife to charred husk that had once been a decent meal. He sighed at the sight of it, this had once been an everyday occurrence back when his owner was still alive. Twice he had almost burned the apartment down on accident. It was after the second time that Computer had taken a more proactive approach to making sure he remembered. If the house wasn't covered in sticky notes after that then it was usually a worthy cause to start panicking. If his sticky note regiment didn't always work he'd verbally lambast the poor fool until it did. That idiot would sometimes forget write out the sticky note as he was writing it...

"So yeah, about that guy." His old owner spoke as he cut the meat. "He, er...threatened me after I said no. He said he'd make me regret it and then walked off. I made sure he didn't follow me home so I'll make sure to keep a low profile for the next couple of days. I've got an old hoodie in the closet if need to go out."

"Y-yeah...that's probably a good idea." Computer spoke, pulling himself of his nostalgic reminiscence. "I'll sleep on the couch. You know, play guard dog or whatever."

"Heh, you may be a grump but you're no guard dog."

"I suppose not..." He sighed, ears drooping. This time he'd be sure to wake him up in time...

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot to make you your coffee!"

His ears perked up again. "Coffee?"

Several minutes later he could confirm that dream coffee was as good, if not better, than real life coffee. He sipped away at it as he tried to come up with a plan. Waiting around for Him to show up just wasn't going to cut it. If He was going to break in along with a gun, he'd need to do something to counteract that. At least he had the element of surprise on his side but he wasn't quite sure how to utilize it well enough to save his owner. He doubted he could just walk into a store and pick up a gun right now. That stupid hobo talked as if he needed to walk away from this situation without so much as a second thought but he couldn't just let his owner die like this. He didn't even care about revenge, he just wanted to make sure things turned out for the better this time. It didn't matter if this was just a dream, if he could get this right just once...

"You doing okay?" His owner asked. "You've been awfully spaced out every since you got back."

"Y-yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Listen, I think I'm going to need some money." He finally came to a conclusion on what he wanted to do.

"Whadaya need the money for?" His owner asked, chewing on a bit of his charred dinner.

A slight but ever so sadistic smile crossed his face. "I think I'm going to need a _sledgehammer_..."

End Of Chapter


	68. The Darkest Part Of Our Heart

Chapter 68: The Darkest Part Of Our Heart

Courage trudged on and on. No matter how far he walked, nothing changed, nothing except for the kinds of broken, beaten out, useless bits of garbage he had to keep stepping on. He hadn't run into anything since his chat with the hobo. There was nothing but junk and smog everywhere he looked. Frustration was quickly growing inside of him as he stepped on yet another painful piece of garbage. If this was just a dream, why couldn't he conjure up a pair of shoes?

Giving up for a moment, he made a small clearing for himself and sat down. He rubbed his aching feet and sighed. How much longer was he going to have to keep this up? Computer could be anywhere in this endless smog.

Was it just him, or were things getting darker? Yes, the more he looked around the more he realized that it was getting harder to see. It wasn't just getting even more smoggy, it was getting darker and darker by the minute. Horror struck him and he jumped back up onto his feet. He'd never be able to find Computer, much less get out of here if it was pitch black! He looked around, he had no idea which way to go.

_**Drip...**_

He flinched at the sound. It was the first thing to happen in ages. Was it going to start raining in this crazy place or worse? He could probably handle a flood after dealing with a pile of garbage turning into a raging sea...

_**Drip...**_

He whirled around. Where was the coming from?

_**SLUUURRPP**_

This time he jumped. A sound like someone drinking something slimy through a straw echoed all around him. He waited for a moment and then silence returned. He was about to start walking again when...

"Well, hello der, pinkie." A slick and slimy voice spoke. It was thickly accented, actually, it sounded more like someone who either didn't have a very good grasp of speaking or wasn't even really trying to sound like it did in the first place.

Courage whirled around again and gasped. The person who had spoken was another dog who looked just like him. It was a frightening caricature however as it's fur was pitch black and it's eyes a glowing red. It had clean, pearly white teeth, sharpened like something you'd see from a shark

"W-who are you?" He asked, backing away. Was this...the corruption? The thing was very obviously evil no matter which way you tried to cut it.

"I AM ya...actually, ya could say dat I'm everybody." It took a step forward. It's tone was surprisingly friendly for such a slimy voice. It sounded exactly like someone who was trying to scam you or convince you to do something that was clearly bad. "I'm dat feelin' ya get when ya want to ram yer car into an idiot drivin' slowly on da road." He drew in closer to Courage. His voice was becoming even more slick. "I'm dat feelin' ya get when ya want to drive a knife through the skull of someone who's makin' ya angry. I'm all dos repressed feelin's that everyone has. I'm da ding that everyone's too cowardly ta act on. Normally I don't exist as a single entity but dis place gives me form and a purpose."

"W-what do you want from me?" Courage squeaked out. They were nose to nose now and that thing was staring directly into his eyes.

The dark creature pulled back, much to Courage's relief. "I'm givin' ya a chance ta turn around an' go back. Ya see, dis is my show now."

"Huh? Courage asked. "Y-you're the thing that took control of me before, aren't you?"

"Yes sir, ya were no fun anyway. Ya see, it goes like dis. Der hasn't been anyone usin' these rings in centuries. When ya die in dis place a part of yer mind breaks, that's where I come in. Dat's my ticket into da real world. I parade around in yer brain dead carcasses until I get ya either thrown in jail...or executed. Like I said, der ain't been anyone in dees rings for centuries and I haven't had a physical form in ages."

"So...so you're going to try to kill me or Computer just so you can get back into the real world?"

"Well, ya ain't as dumb as ya look. I was start'n to get worried." It spoke. It's eyes narrowed with a malicious gleam. "Trust me, I wouldn't tell ya dis unless I was certain ya wouldn't be able ta stop me..."

Courage grit his teeth. "I'm not going to let you hurt me or Computer, you got that?"

"Yer friend? He'll do whatava I want em to do. Trust me..." A grin formed across it's face yet again.

"He's not going to start trusting a dark, red eyed monster! He'd never trust you, not even for even a second! He'd probably be even more suspicious than I am!"

The dark creature shrugged. "I got ya ta almost rip his arm off, didn't I? I can nudge em into whatever direction I want."

He was right! Courage's eyes widened. "Oh no..."

The dark creature frowned. "Dis is yer last warning, pinke. Leave now while yer mind is still intact."

"Where's Computer? I want to know where he is!" Courage growled. "I'm not leaving without him!"

The dark creature backed away. "Wrong answer, pinke..." It spoke in a low tone.

"Where's Computer!" Courage yelled a second time. He ran forward to grab the monster but it's form melted into a puddle of black tar and dispersed amongst the garbage. Fighting back a scream of anger, Courage stood there, completely at a loss.

…...

Apparently the dreamscape wasn't doing very much to make the world seem believable. Computer's walk down to the store was so eerie that he almost wanted to run back to the apartment and have his owner do it for him. There was not a single living being to be found anywhere. No cars drove down the roads and the world was so quiet that only Computer's own footsteps made any sound. Not even the wind would blow and break up the monotony.

He bought his desired sledgehammer from a particularly bored employee who did not seem to notice or care that he was the only one around. He also bought a certain kind of candy bar while he was there which he knew his owner liked. On some level he saw it as a sort of peace offering. A, 'Sorry I got you killed all those years ago!' kind of apology. It was pathetic but he really didn't care anymore.

The walk back home was just as quiet and just as eerie as ever. He didn't make much of an effort to keep an eye on his surroundings and he was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the person moving from one alleyway to the next behind him. He had stopped just a moment to let his arms rest after carrying that extremely heavy sledgehammer, when the person crept up behind him.

He realized what was going on five seconds too late. A hand wrapped around his muzzle and another pick him up. The bag with the sledgehammer fell out of his grasps and hit the ground with a clang. He struggled to free himself from his kidnapper but it was no use.

He already knew who was attacking him, there was no reason to even guess. If nobody else existed in this dream world then there was only one answer...

He suppressed a yelp when the man slammed him into the nearest wall, face first. He did it several more time until he was forced to fall still.

"No squirming around, little pup!" An all too familiar voice spoke.

He felt his heart stop. He hadn't even considered the possibility that maybe this dream wouldn't play out exactly as it had in real life. He hadn't even considered the possibility that He might attack him while he was out and about...undefended and helpless.

Trembling, he felt that horrible monster twist him around as if inspecting him. He couldn't even comprehend what He might do to him as a flesh creature. How long would this dream play out? How long would he have to endure whatever He had in store for him?

The man flung him down onto the sidewalk and grinned. "I've been looking a long time for you! If you know what's good for you, you won't try to escape!"

Computer was already attempting to crawl away. He didn't care if this was a dream, it still felt real. He couldn't bear the thought of being tortured by this man all over again. Things hurt as a machine but they hurt so much worse as a weak, fragile flesh creature.

"I said no running!" The man screamed, kicking him in the face and very nearly knocking him out cold right there.

He gripped his muzzle, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. His mind was screaming at him to run but he couldn't find the guts to actually do that. An even more overwhelming part of his mind was screaming, 'HE'LL MAKE IT WORSE IF YOU DO!'

He was kicked again, this time in the stomach. He was sent flying into the road and he lay there with his paws wrapped around his torso as he gasped for air. He thought of the sledgehammer in the bag but he had no hope of getting to it now. That horrible monster of a man was making his way over to him and he had that same awful gleam in his eyes that he always used to have whenever he was going to do something terrible. Computer knew that look all too well and he felt his insides turn to ice at the sight of it.

"Have you gotten the message yet, little dog?" The man asked, grabbing him by his ears and pulling him up to eye level. "You're only going to make things worse for yourself if you don't do as I say."

He nodded, hoping it would finally bring an end to this spontaneous bought of torture. What he got instead was a sharp punch across the muzzle.

The man dropped him back down onto the ground again, this time pressing a shoe up against his back. "Don't make me break something. I'll do it if that's what's needed to be done."

"I-I won't do anything, I s-swear. Please, just don't..." He stuttered out. Fear was gripping him so tightly that he was certain he was going to pass out even without His help. This was just a dream, so why did it hurt so bad? Would he have to live through his torture all over again? This time as a flesh creature instead?

He thought of Courage for a moment, wherever he was, but he knew deep down that not even the dog would be able to help him. He'd be beaten into submission too or simply shot on the spot if he dared to interfere. He couldn't drag Courage into this, not even for his own sake. Courage did not deserve this kind of torture.

"Let me go!" He yelled, some small amount of bravery, or fear of what would happen if he didn't escape, returning to him. "I-I won't let you do this to me again! I-I can't..."

"What did I say?" The man spoke in a deathly quiet voice. "You really are a bad learner."

He dug his foot into Computer's back and he cried out. This got him another kick from the monster and he was reduced to a shaking, whimpering mess. All the awful memories, all the emotions, all the terror and fear, all the hopelessness, they were rushing back to him after they had been buried for so long. The events of the forest had almost caused exactly this to happen but not to the extremes he was experiencing now. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the next blow to strike him, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes again and found the reason why his attacker had relented.

His owner, his beloved owner and friend was arguing with Him. Everything seemed so far away to Computer now, it was like he was watching the scene through a lens. Everything they were saying was too muffled to be picked up now. He'd never seen his owner look so angry before and while he was happy to know that he was trying to save him, he knew a gunshot would soon ring out through his muted ears and that would be the end of it. He closed his eyes, unable to watch. He waited and waited for the gunshot but it never came. The darkness behind his eyelids began to expand all around him and before he even knew what was happening, he slipped into unconsciousness.

…...

The darkness was ever encroaching upon Courage. He could barely see his own paws in front of his own face. He kept his eyes trained on the garbage beneath him. The last thing he wanted now was to fall through a hole just because he hadn't been watching the floor closely enough.

He had no idea if he'd ever be able to find Computer with things like this, but he wasn't going to give up. Whatever that dark creature was trying to do to them, he'd have to try and stop it. He knew Computer wouldn't be so easily deceived by that thing but he could still be controlled if the creature tried hard enough.

He gasped as everything around him went completely black. It was like a switch had been flicked off. He took a step back and tripped over a pile of garbage that he could not see. Disoriented, he got back up onto his feet and continued to walk. Terror raced through him unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He could sense _things _moving around in the darkness and he could hear the shuffling of their feet as they moved but he could not see them no matter how hard he tried. He had no means to gauge just how close they were to him and it didn't stop his rising sense of panic. He picked up his pace and tried to run but he only succeeded in tripping over once again.

"Courage..." A quiet voice whispered into his ear. He gasped and got back onto his feet as fast as he could manage. He flung his paws out into the darkness but it only hit air.

"Courage..."

"Courage..."

"Courage..."

A multitude of voices were quietly chanting his name. He could hear them whispering all around him but whatever they were saying outside of his name, he couldn't pick up. He wanted to run but he was certain that he was surrounded.

"Euuuueeeeehhhhh..." An unearthly sound groaned.

He screamed and backed away. Whatever was making that sound couldn't be human. Courage couldn't even see a _zombie_ making a sound like that.

"COURAGE!" The voices screamed.

He felt a shadow rising up behind him. He couldn't stop his panic and took off running. He tripped over nearly everything that was in his path but he didn't care. He jumped right back onto his feet and kept running. That unearthly groaning was following him through the dark.

He tripped again and this time he felt his paw brush up against something familiar. It was a flashlight! He grabbed it and hoped to that screaming elder god upstairs that it would work. When it did flicker to life he almost wished that it hadn't. He couldn't even scream anymore from what he was seeing. He just stood there shaking, several squeaks managing to exit his trembling mouth.

The light from the flashlight was illuminated...h-him! His eyes were rolled up into the top of his head, his blood vessels showing as clear as day. His mouth was gaping open, exposing an endless void and from that void the unearthly sound echoed forth. A single paw was grasping out at him. He backed away, too shell shocked to do anything else.

Finally, the terror hit him full force. He let out a scream that shook the world around him and he took off running as fast as his paws could take him. With the light from that flashlight as his guide, he maneuvered around the things that would have been tripping him up before with ease. He could still hear his monstrous twin moaning and when he dared to flash his flashlight behind him he found that the thing was still dangerously close on his tail. He screamed even harder and continued to run as fast as his legs would take him.

"Cooouuurrrraaagggeeee..." The voices chanted.

As if he wasn't having a bad enough of a day, he saw the flashlight flicker several times and his stomach dropped in terror.

"No, no, no! Don't die! Don't die!" He pleaded with the object. It gave one last weak flicker as though it were trying to do as he asked...and then it died.

…...

Computer cringed as awareness returned to him, along with all the pain that it entitled. His head was throbbing viciously, actually his whole body was. He felt something cool press up against his muzzle and he opened his eyes in terror. Was it Him? Had He gotten him? It was over! He was as good as dead!

No...actually, it was just his owner. He was still alive, much to his relief.

"What happened?" He asked his friend. They were currently in the bathroom of their tiny apartment and his owner was applying ice to a particularly nasty black eye that he was now sporting.

"I knew you wanted to get that sledgehammer as a precaution, but don't you think you could have used it back there? I thought he might have killed you after I saw what happened."

"He...ugh...jumped me." He said, wincing. Just the act of breathing hurt now. He suspected getting kicked in the stomach might have had something to do with that...

"Are you going to be alright?" His friend asked.

"I'll...I'll live..." He sighed. He was making an effort not to make eye contact. He felt bad enough as is.

"That guy ran off after I lied to him about having called the cops. He seems to think that you belong to him. He talks as if he has the right to drag away without my consent. I'm glad I didn't take him up on his offer before, who knows what he might have done to you."

"Y-yeah, can I go now?" Computer asked weakly. "I just want to go lay down and...rest."

"Are you sure you're alright?" His owner asked. "He didn't break anything did he? You're ribs are fine?"

He kept his eyes trained on the floor. "Yeah...It's just a few scratches anyway."

"Those are _not _just a few scratches. Look, if you want to go lay down, just keep that ice on your eye, okay?"

"R-right." Computer replied, barely even aware of what was going on. His mind was miles away in another world.

He jumped off the bathroom counter, made his way through the kitchen and then back into the living room. Every step hurt viciously but he eventually made it. He climbed up and then collapsed onto the couch. He lay there, shivering for several minutes, nearly overwhelmed by both the fear and memories of his time with that monster of a man. He remained that way for some time before he finally told himself to get a grip and calm down. He needed to get this head together, not break down into a whimpering mess just because of some stupid memories. He was feeling like he were about to crack, like an egg being repeatedly bashed up against a corner. It was terrible and even a little bit frightening. What would happen if he did _crack_?

He had half the mind to just go tell his owner that he was going to die tonight and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He knew he was just kidding himself when he actually believed that he could stop what was going to happen. He knew he was just setting himself up for another spectacular fall. He was stupid to think that he could actually make this play out any different from the real thing. He'd been getting his hopes up and he knew that they'd simply be dashed in the end.

He griped his pounding head and curled up into a ball. This was useless! His owner was going to be killed and he was going to get tortured by Him all over again, for who knows how long! He considered the possibility of handing himself over without a fight so that maybe He wouldn't feel the need to kill his owner this time around. Unfortunately, the thought of being in the possession of that monster again terrified him too much to actually want to go through with that. He couldn't do it...not even for his owner. The more he thought about it, the more angry he became. It was slowly but surely bubbling up into a vicious, unquenchable _rage_. He wanted Him to suffer just _once _for all the pain he had caused. He deserved it!

Computer grit his teeth and dug his nails into the couch. It was His turn to suffer! He was going to make Him pay for everything he had done! He was going to be one begging for mercy for a change!

Yes...he'd kill him, but first he'd watch as that monster pleaded and begged for his life. He'd show him the exact same amount of mercy he had given him all those years ago. He smiled at the thought of it. How wonderful it would be!

"Hey, I know you aren't feeling so well. Do you want me to go get you something? Are you hungry?"

The vicious smile faded from his lips and he turned to look up at his owner. His friend sat down beside him and he winced as he tried to lay a hand on his back.

"Oh, sorry. I almost forgot you've got a bruise there too." He laughed, sheepishly.

"Listen, I have something important that I need you to do for me." He told him quietly.

"Shoot." He replied.

"When you go to bed tonight, lock the door and don't come out for anything, alright? It's just a precaution but I don't want anything bad to happen to you if something happens tonight. I'll stay out here and keep an eye on things, just to be safe."

"You're talking as if you know something bad is going to happen..."

"I'm just doing it for our safety. I don't know if we're actually going to be attacked tonight but I do have a bad feeling and my bad feelings are usually right."

"You just got the crap beat out of you. Why don't I stay up and keep an eye on things while you sleep?"

"NO!" He yelped, jumping to his feet. "I'm the dog and I'm the one who's supposed to protect my owner! I won't let anything else happen again just because of me!"

"Again?" His owner asked.

His ears dropped and he sat back down. "Let's just say that I let an old friend of mine down a long time ago and I don't want that to happen again."

His owner shook his head. "Alright, but if that guy does show up again, just call the cops. I don't want you getting killed over something like this."

He gave him a sad smile. "I'll do my best, but don't get yourself killed either."

…...

Courage ran blindly through the dark. He tripped over and over again but no matter where he went, that groaning could still be heard mere inches behind him. He had to keep running no matter what. He was practically in hysterics now. He was having trouble panting for air in this smoggy place and it seemed that his voice had given out after screaming for so long. He could still hear the whispering all around him and he knew that if he stopped for even a second, that _thing _would get him.

"Dis is yer last chance ta give it up, pinke." That slick and slimy voice said. A pair of glowing, red eyes appeared next to him as he ran.

"You're...not...stopping...me!" He gasped out between pants for breath.

"Ya want dat monster ta get ya?" It asked. "I can make it go away, ya know."

"I'm not... leaving Computer...here...with you!" He said breathlessly.

"Yer really gonna regret dis, pinkie." The dark creature spoke. There was a sound like someone snapping their fingers and then light returned to the smoggy realm.

Courage whipped around in terror but his monstrous twin was gone. The whispering had stopped and everything was back to the way it had been before the lights had gone out. He collapsed into a heap and sighed with relief. It was over...for now.

The dark creature saddled up next to him. It regarded him with a curious but almost snide look. It seemed to be plotting something. Courage sat back up and glared at it.

"I'm going to find Computer and you're not going to stop me!" He yelled.

"Ya know, I was gonna let yer mind do my work fer me with all that whisperin' an' monster business but I got struck wit a better idea."

The dark creature rose up, it's form becoming much more imposing. "Since ya won't stop bein' a thorn in my side by yer own free will, I'm gonna make ya hurt fer it. I'm gonna make ya hurt so bad dat ye'll wish ya have turned back when ya had da chance."

Courage tried to back away on all fours but it was no use.

"I'll take ya ta yer friend but yer gonna wish I never had..." The dark creature said ominously. It pulled out a rusty old pipe from the garbage and gave Courage a gleeful grin.

Courage got to his feet and ran. He nearly took his own eye out when a mass of wires freed themselves from their broken electronics and grabbed his foot. He slammed into the ground and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his left eye had missed a bit of sharp metal sticking out of the ground by mere inches. His relief didn't last long however as more and more of the wires weaved their way around him, holding him into place.

"Ya ain't goin' nowhere, pinkie." The dark creature said. It tapped him on the leg with the metal pipe. "I promise dis won't hurt...much."

It raised the pipe into the air...

"No, no, no, no!" Courage yelped, before...

_**WHAM**_

End Of Chapter


	69. Mono No Aware

A/N: Hoo boy, the prospect of this chapter has always made me a bit nervous. It's either going to crash and burn from being too over dramatic and too overwrought or it's gonna be _the_ crowning moment of heartwarming for this fic. Hopefully I didn't f*ck it up. Enjoy.

Chapter 69: Mono No Aware

_...Tink..._

_...Tink..._

_...Tink..._

Courage groaned, his head was pounding. Something was weighing down on him and it hurt a lot. He tried to move his arms but his paws were bound. His muzzle was clamped tightly shut by something cold.

_...Tink..._

_...Tink..._

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked the blurriness out of them. He gasped at what he was seeing. It was Computer and they were in some kind of massive garbage hole. His friend was grabbing bits of junk off the floor and throwing them aside. He must have made this hole trying to get to the bottom...

Courage realized why there was so much pain weighing down on him. He was quite literally apart of the wall of garbage. He was just far enough in for Computer to be unable to see him and there were two 'eye holes' just large enough for him to see what he was doing. This had to be that dark creature's doing, there was no other explanation.

"I can't believe this!" Computer yelled to no one in particular. "There has to be a bottom! There has to be!" He placed a paw on the side of his head and looked completely lost."I-I knew things were bad but I never thought..."

Growing frustrated again, he dropped to his knees and began pulling up as much garbage as his paws could hold. No matter how far he dug down, the hole only got deeper. He let out another cry of anger and kicked a broken cellphone, it collided with the wall near inches from where Courage was stuck. His friend's anger quickly melted away and he sighed, ears drooping.

"How am I supposed to even try to fix this?" He asked, shaking his head sadly. "My head can't be _that _bad!"

He picked up the twisted remains of a pipe and stared at it. "Wonder what Courage would think if he saw all this. Bet he wouldn't be so optimistic about helping me now..." He sighed again and let the pipe drop to the floor.

"Mmmph!" Courage's muffled voice tried to say. He wanted to make his presence known but his mouth was just too tightly bound, his cries did not carry very far.

Computer gave another listless sigh. "He _was_ pretty angry before. I really do wonder where he went..." His eyes scanned the garbage heap again. "I hope he didn't find a way out without me."

So this _was_ the Computer from before. At least he wouldn't have to deal with yet another copy. Courage tried to shift around but he was too packed in. He was stuck and there was no way he could get out or get Computer's attention...

"I honestly wish I hadn't stumbled across this place. I'd have been perfectly happy thinking my mind was just a bunch of boring doors but not...not this..." He shivered and got back to pulling out garbage.

"Heeey!" A voice called out, nearly causing Courage's heart to stop. It was _him_! He was here to mess with Computer now too!

The glowing dog's ears perked up and he gazed up toward the top of the hole. "Hey, indeed! Did you find a way out yet? You're the one who led me to this god-forsaken place to begin with!"

"I got bad news fer ya, buddy." The slick and slimy voice of the dark creature said. "I know ya been looking a bit blue, well, more den normal, but I gotta break da news to ya fair and square."

"What? Did something happen? Ugh, I'd prefer not to get bad news right now..."

"Yer buddy Courage just up and left. Said he didn't want ta deal with ya anymore. Could barely get 'em ta talk ta me long enough ta say why he was leavin'. Dumb dog was practically ravin' with anger."

Computer stared up at the evil creature. He obviously wasn't buying it. "You're joking, right? Courage wouldn't do something like that. He was the one who wanted to come here in the first place. He wouldn't give up that easily."

"I ain't just talking about this place, pal. He said he's done with ya too. Tired of always fight'n and arguin' with ya. He said dis 'dump' finally made 'em realize what ya really are on da inside."

Computer stared. "What? That doesn't seem very likely. He wouldn't..."

"Face it, buddy. Yer done and he's done. It's been, what? Seven or eight years now? Dat's practically a world record for ya, given da turnover rate ya have with yer owners after all. Ya should enjoy what ya had with him, cause it's over now."

He shook his head. "You're lying! Courage wouldn't have just left! We've threatened to go our separate ways tons of times! He wouldn't just go without saying a word to me!"

"Pal, he never saw _dis _place before. Gotta hand it to ya, ya finally managed to scare that little runt off fer good."

Computer's ears drooped again. "T-there's no way..."

"Face it, yer no good. He abandoned ya just like the rest. It was inevitable. Hope ya haven't forgotten yer promise..."

He shook his head. "That can't be! I-I need to talk to him! He can't be gone yet! I've _got_ to talk to him!" He raced over to one of the walls and began to climb. "He can't be gone! I can talk sense into that stupid twit! He's not going anywhere!"

The wall of garbage was hopelessly unstable. He managed to make it about halfway up before something gave way and he was sent tumbling down in an avalanche of garbage. He immediately got back onto his feet and tried again, he was thwarted by garbage yet again. He kept up at it for five, ten, twenty times, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't climb his way out of the hole he had dug for himself.

"Sorry, pal. Dat's just da way da cookie crumbles. Did ya really think Courage would be any different from the rest? Ya set yerself up for dis fall."

"Let me out!" He screamed. His attempts to climb out were growing more and more frantic. "I can still make him see! I'm not in some stupid metal body now! He can't just flick a switch and toss me out like the others did! I won't let him! He has to answer to me first! I won't be thrown out again!"

"Thrown out? Look where ya are!"

He blinked and looked around at all the walls of garbage. His eyes briefly met Courage's without even realizing it and then he gazed back up at the dark creature.

"He didn't need no dump to throw ya in! It was all here ta begin wit'! Ya really ain't gettin' the reason why he left, are ya? He finally saw things for the way 'dey really are!"

Computer clenched his fist and squeezed his eyes shut. "Tell him to come back! Go find him and tell him to come back! I won't stand for this! That good for nothing idiot is going to get a piece of my mind!"

"Ya still ain't gettin' it! Give it up! Ya had a good run! Ya should be grateful he put up wit' ya fer as long as he did! It's time ta go find a new owner or...did ya forget yer promise?"

"No! Shut up! Tell him to come back!"

"He ain't comin' back!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

"Ya don't _have_ anything to say about it! It's time ta give up! Ya pushed his buttons one too many times and now he's gone!"

Computer shook his head again, his eyes still squeezed shut. A note of despair entered his voice. "How could he just go? After everything I told him, I thought he understood! He seemed so genuine! One little trip to a garbage dump wouldn't have changed that!"

"Ya put too much faith in 'em. Dontcha remember da way yer other owners were? Ya set yer bar too high wit' dis one. Ya were better off keeping 'em at arms distance."

He continued to shake his head. "No! You're wrong! I know you're wrong!"

"Yer da one who's wrong, pal. Look at were ya are now. Dontchya think Courage would have come back fer ya by now if he was plannin' to? Face it, yer old news. Look at all da new computers these days, you just can't match em. Look at what all dos new phones do too. Yer outdated, last years model. Yer never gonna find an owner like Courage again. Nobody's gonna want a computer dat not even der grandma is gonna wanna touch!"

"Courage isn't gone!" He growled. "Tell him to come back, right now! I won't stand for this!"

"He ain't comin' back!"

"He can't! I..." Fear and disbelief wracked Computer's face. Courage made another struggled attempt to escape but it was no use.

Computer dug his paws into the garbage wall and began to climb again. "Tell him to come back!" He yelled. His voice quavered with every word. "Please, just tell him to come back!"

Courage stared helplessly as his friend continued to make even more and more pathetic pleas to the dark creature. Every attempt he made to climb out of the hole ended in failure and yet he still would not give up.

"Please! Tell him to come back!" He begged. He slid down once more and started right back up again. "He can't just go without saying so much as a word! He has to answer to me first! I deserve at least that!"

A twisted piece of metal broke off from the wall the moment he touched it and the whole thing was sent tumbling down again. He hit the ground and did not move again for several moments. Cringing, he slowly stood up again and resumed his doomed plight, disregarding the obvious outcome.

"Mmmmph!" Courage cried out. If only he could make his voice heard!

"Give it up! It's time ta stop fightin'!" The dark creature shouted.

"He can't just go! I don't want to be alone again!" He yelled. Complete and utter sorrow etched his face. "He has to come back! He can't leave me alone like this! I-I don't want to be alone!"

"Well, ya are! Get used ta it! Unless ya go through wit' yer promise, dis is da way life is gonna be from now on!"

Computer attempted to climb out of his prison one last time and when he fell he did not try to climb out again. His expression turned to one of complete and utter hopelessness.

"I don't want to be alone! Not again! I-I can't go through that again! He can't abandon me too! I-I..." Tears welled up in his eyes.

Courage could only watch as his friend steadily broke down right before his very own eyes. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not once had his friend been driven to tears like this, not by anything that had happened in the forest, not by anything that his insomnia induced paranoia had brought about, and not anything that his nightmares had done. It seemed impossible that the simple notion of being alone could triumph over everything else for him.

"Yer promise..." The dark creature all but cooed.

Computer gazed downward. "All I wanted was one owner who wouldn't get rid of me. Courage was my last chance. No more new owners after him. If he didn't just leave me in a junk yard to be ground down into soup cans I wasn't going allow myself to be given to a new owner either." He closed his eyes. "I promised that if things got bad again I wouldn't put up with it anymore. No more waiting around for someone else to deal out my fate to me."

"'Din what are we waiting fer..." The dark creature spoke. His voice was deathly quiet. "It's time..."

Courage heard something whirl through the air and hit the ground with a clunk. His heart plummeted at the sight of it. It was a small, intricate blade. Like something you'd see used in a ritual sacrifice. So this was how the dark creature was going to get back into the real world...

Computer gazed down at it and sighed. "What a cliche way to go. I would have preferred something a little less melodramatic in the end." He closed his eyes. "You know, I'm not so sure about this. I mean, I did promise, but..."

"Ya don't want ta be alone anymore, do ya? Well, here's da solution! I thought ya wanted ta die, hmm? What was all the beggin' ta 'Him' for? Why'd ya let yer system degrade after dat last owner gave up on ya? Ya were ready ta die and ya still are!"

"It's just...things have been going so much better lately. I just don't see how it could have all come crashing down so quickly..."

"Tings change! All good tings eventually gotta come ta an end. Ya knew dis would happen and ya've been waiting for it, now it's here."

He closed his eyes again. "You're...you're right. I just thought that after all those things Courage had said that maybe it wouldn't turn out this way in the end."

"It was always gonna end like dis, ya knew it would. Ya always knew he was gonna abandon ya and ya actually let yerself believe dat maybe it wouldn't happen. Dey're always gonna abandon ya in the end, it's just da way tings are. Ya were dumb enough to believe it might be differen' for once and I fergiv ya for that. We're all naïve 'sum times."

Computer picked up the blade and stared at it. His own tearful expression reflected in it. "You're right. I deluded myself into thinking things might actually turn out differently this time. How stupid I've been..."

"Jus get it over wit. No more hurtin', no more bein' abandoned, no more havin' to feel sorry 'bout anyting anymore. Doesn't dat sound nice?"

He smiled for what seemed like the first time in ages. "That does sound nice, actually. It's not like I have anywhere else to go now." He looked around at all the garbage. "I don't think I could ever hope to fix any of this either. Perhaps it's for the best..."

"Now yer finally seein' it my way. I just don't want ya to suffer anymore, pal. Don'tcha think ya've been through enough?"

He clenched the hilt of the blade and his expression grew angry. "Yeah...I have been through enough! Why should I have to suffer though another abandonment? Courage knew what I've been through and he still turned tail and ran! He probably doesn't expect me to wake up again at all! He wouldn't have left me in this terrible nightmare world if he was expecting me to wake back up again! He probably knew I'd never be able to get out on my own!"

"Didtcha really expect any different from one of yer owners? Yer the one who's always sayin' dey're monsters."

He squeezed his eyes shut again. "Well, he did say he hoped that program would tear me to pieces. It's no wonder he ran off and abandoned me! I should have just stuck with my story back there and told him he'd have to fend for himself from now on! It's about time one of my owners got to know what it's like to be abandoned themselves!"

"Now yer gettin' it!" The dark creature cheered.

Computer's ears drooped again. "I was just so certain that after the forest and our little fight in the hotel that Courage was being genuine. It would have been so nice to have an owner who'd actually keep me around no matter what. I guess that even Nina would have tossed me out on the street one day." He sighed as tears rolled down his muzzle. "I just...I just wanted to think that I wasn't really alone anymore. Going through life without a single person on my side has been...difficult. I guess that's what I should have expected since nobody has ever seen me as anything more than a glorified calculator that just happens to talk."

Courage's heart was practically pounding out of his chest. It seemed like every time Computer was about to come to his senses another wave of fog would cloud his mind and depression would grab ahold of him once again. That damn creature was doing this to him! Messing around with all his biggest weaknesses and getting the reaction out of him that he always wanted! Well, he hoped it was the creature. He couldn't imagine Computer talking like this all on his own but...the more he thought about it the more he became convinced that maybe it _was_. His sorrow over the possibility of being abandoned yet again was so genuine that Courage had to believe that it was a true, not just a reaction brought on by the dark creature's influence.

He attempted to move again. He had to stop Computer before he went through with this. It was obvious that he was still struggling with his decision. He kept staring at the blade with a mixture of exhaustion, fear, sorrow, and disbelief. It was obvious that a large part of him wasn't ready to die, unfortunately the slick words of that creature were slowly convincing those parts that he needed to do this if he didn't want to suffer anymore.

"Think about it. Do ya really want to go through all that again? Gettin' yer keyboard smashed for speakin' up against some vain idiot? Gettin' fried because some jerk didn't care enough not ta get ya wet? Become the pet science experiment of some self proclaimed genius all over again? Do ya really want to keep gettin' abandoned by people who don't want ta put up with ya? People who never think yer good enough?"

"No, no I don't." He sighed, defeated.

"Ya just ain't a very good computer anymore. Ya had something in Courage that nobody else could offer and dat was it. Dis was the only thing ya really had goin' for ya. If that dog had ever gained even half a brain cell he would have realized dat anyone can use a search engine! Hahaha!" The smokey, coughing laugh of the dark creature carried through smog. It echoed on and on...

"I-I suppose it was always inevitable. I just wish I could have had..." He sighed again. "Look, if he comes back, if he comes back for any reason at all, could...could you maybe apologize to him for me? I just want him to know that I never meant any ill will toward him. I thought he knew this by now but...I'm not so sure anymore. Could you maybe thank him too? I don't think he'll care but I want him to know that this past week has been one of the happiest I've ever had. I mean, sure, we've almost died how many times now? But I wouldn't give it up for the world. It's not every day I actually get to go out and do something different with my pitiful excuse of a life."

"I'll do that for ya...pal..." The creature replied in his slick tone. It was obvious that he wasn't going to say a word.

Computer gazed down at the blade again. Tears were still brimming in his eyes. He turned away again, as though he could not stand the sight of it. Indecision stayed his hand just a little while longer.

Courage found himself crying. He couldn't bear to watch this any longer. He struggled and struggled but he could not move. He was summoning every ounce of strength he had but nothing would give. He couldn't do it, he couldn't watch Computer die like this. He'd rip his own arms off if he had to. He needed Computer to know how much he cared, how grateful he was to have him around. He was as lucky to have him as a friend and companion as much as he was lucky to have Muriel. To think of all the things that had to have come together for him to have been landed with a talking computer and then to overcome all their mile long differences and still be friends for it in the end. To think, several weeks ago he wouldn't have even considered the possibility of being friends with Computer, now he couldn't even stand the prospect of not having his snide, smartass remarks constantly driving him insane.

Computer considered the blade once more. Something was different about him now, he seemed less convinced that he needed to do this. Courage wasn't sure but it seemed like the smog all around them was clearing up a little bit...

"Well? Wataya wait'n for? Aren't ya ready ta go yet?"

"No." He murmured quietly. He stared at the blade one last time and then tossed it away. "I've decided that I'd rather go tell Courage all those things myself. I...I want to go find him. I want to hear what he really thinks from his own mouth. If he really is giving up on me...I guess that's just as well. I just want to hear it from him first though. If he doesn't care about what I have to say then perhaps I really was wrong about him, but until then, I'm going to put a little more faith in him first."

Courage watched the scene through blurry eyes. Computer wasn't giving up on him either...

"WHAT?" The dark creature shrieked. "Ya gotta be kiddin' me! Yer gonna regret dis!"

Courage gave one last almighty tug on his bindings, and, finding some kind of impossible strength, managed to free his paws. He could feel his wrists bleeding but that was alright, he could now use his arms now to escape this prison.

Computer blinked and glanced over to where Courage was. He was making enough racket now to be heard halfway across this hellscape.

"W-what?" Computer asked, making his way over to the noise.

Courage's mouth was still tied down by the cold wires biting into his muzzle. He tried to pull them off but they tightened as if they had a mind of their own. His muzzle was bleeding now because of how hard they were boring into his skin. He ignored the pain and continued to pull at them.

Computer began to grab bits of garbage and remove them. Courage gave a muffled cry and hoped that he could finally hear him. It wouldn't be long now before he could escape. He tugged at the wires one last time and they finally loosened until they fell off. The force driving them to bore deeper into his skin seemed to have given up.

"Compute!" He cried out. "Get me out of here!"

"C-Courage? Is that really you? Were you here this whole time?"

There was too much garbage on top of him to get out on his own. He could only pull a few pieces out of the way but even that barely helped.

"Don't worry! I think I'm almost there!" Computer spoke.

Courage could no longer see what was happening outside with his two eye holes gone. He could hear the garbage giving way and he hoped the stuff on top of him wouldn't decide to crush him...

He waited and waited...until finally light flooded into his tiny space. He leaped forward and tackled Computer to the ground, tears pouring from his eyes. He never thought he'd ever be so happy to see him.

"Do you have any idea?" He sobbed. "Any idea how much I'd miss you if you died? Where would I be without you? Who'd call me all those stupid names and give me insane solutions to all my monster problems? Who'd help me save Muriel? Who'd...who'd..." He steadily devolved into his gibberish language. His words were so slurred that he wasn't sure even Computer could understand it. He didn't care if he couldn't understand, he just wanted to keep babbling until he finally got it through Computer's thick skull just how much he cared.

"Don't you get it?" He continued. "That...that _thing _was trying to get you to do what it wanted!" He pointed up to the place where the dark creature would have been. It was gone now...

"It almost succeeded!" He screamed. "How could you almost..."

He gasped as he felt Computer wrap his arms around him and pull him into a hug "I'm still here, aren't I?" He asked. He let him go and smiled sadly. "I'm so glad you didn't leave me here. I was so certain you'd gone and abandoned me too." He shut his eyes, his voice becoming strained. "I mean, I've been tossed away so many times now..." He opened his glowing eyes again and they were filled with tears. He continued to smile sadly.

Now it was Courage's turn to hug him. He was certain he was almost suffocating him but that didn't matter. He just wanted him to know how much he cared. "You're never ever going to be alone again, you got that? You're always going to have a place with me and nothing's ever going to change that."

"Courage..."

"When this is all over with and everything finally goes back to normal, I promise you won't be neglected again. You won't have to be so bored that you've gotta stare at cats and stupid videos all day just to keep yourself happy."

"Courage, you've never neglected me..." He replied gently. "Well, except for maybe that time you threw me out the window but I was kind of asking for it then. I _did _make a pretty bad joke after all." He laughed.

"But I have been neglecting you! I promise I'll start treating you like a proper computer from now on! I'll even fix you up! I don't care if I've gotta take you apart and replace every last bit of hardware myself! I'm going to start treating you properly from now on!"

"A-a tune up? That _would_ be nice..." He looked genuinely taken aback by Courage's promise. "Nobody's ever taken the time to do even a little bit of maintenance on me. I've got so much dust clogging up my fan that I..."

Courage wrapped his arms around him again. "I'll take care of it, I promise."

Computer placed both his paws onto his shoulders. "Thank you. It'll be nice if I can pretend to be a halfway decent computer again. It'll be nice to replace some of those failing hardware parts too."

"You don't have to thank me. It's what friends do. Look, even if we don't find that wellspring, I'll still have some time left. If we can't find a way to save me, I'll make sure things are better off for you before the end. You won't have to end up with someone you hate. I mean, you've even got a friend like Nina now after all."

"Don't even talk like that! You're going to make it! Even if that wellspring doesn't exist there will still be enough time to find something else! I won't let you die, that's my promise to you. Besides, I don't want another owner and I certainly don't want to have to replace a dear friend."

Courage laughed. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that you'd one day call me a dear friend."

He smiled, this time without even a hint of sadness. "Neither did I."

Courage grinned and pulled him into another hug. "Love you, Compute." He muttered, not expecting even the slightest reply from his friend.

"Love you too, twit."

For a moment he wasn't actually sure he had heard what he thought he had just heard. He was certain his ears couldn't even comprehend it. He must have looked completely flabbergasted because Computer was practically doubling over with laughter.

"Now _that_ was the sort of reaction I was hoping to get! Oh how I wish I had a camera right now!" He laughed before finally reaching a paw out to him. "Family?" He asked.

Courage shook his head out of his stupor, and, without a hint of reluctance, grabbed his paw. "Family!"

"Till the end? No matter when that might be?"

He nodded. "Till the very end."

_Some day you came  
And I knew you were the one  
You were the rain, you were the sun  
But I needed both, cause I needed you_

_You were the one  
I was dreaming of all my life  
When it is dark you are my light_

_-Engima, The Child In Us _

End of Chapter

A/N: Please fasten your seat belts and place your DAWWWW into the upright position. With the inclusion of song lyrics this fic has officially hit all the standard list of shitty fan fic cliches! WOOO! (not taking this srs enough)


	70. Fighting Your Demons

A/N: Chapter 69 has gone through a pretty extensive rewrite. If you're one of the people who read the early version of it I would suggest you go back and read it again for continuity sake.

Chapter 70: Fighting Your Demons

As night rolled around Computer found himself growing more and more nervous. He was trapped between the belief that no matter what he did this dream was going to turn out badly and the desire to get revenge on Him for all the things he had done. He flit continuously between complete and utter panic and a burning rage that could not be controlled. He so deeply desired to see that man squeal, to see him hurt just once, that it filled him with an almost sadistic glee. On some levels it frightened him, on the others, he didn't care. All the repressed anger that he had never been able to act on was now making itself known and was boiling over all at the same time. This was finally his chance to make Him suffer. A chance he never got in real life.

He made himself comfortable on the couch for most of the night. His owner went about all his usual business and they chatted it up every once in awhile. He was constantly left in awe over just how real it all felt. He couldn't help but think of that saying which claimed that people live on in your heart. Through this dream and through his memories his owner was living again.

"Almost eleven, guess I should be hitting the sack right about now." His friend said with a yawn. He flicked the TV off and stretched.

"Remember what I said about keeping the door locked?" Computer asked him.

"It'll be fine! That guy's a big coward anyway so I don't think he'll try and break in. He's perfectly happy kicking dogs around but the moment when someone bigger comes in he runs off screaming. Besides, he thinks I told the cops about him, he wouldn't risk getting caught."

"I know." Computer replied. "But do it anyway as a precaution. I don't want you to get hurt if anything happens."

"And I don't want you to get hurt again if anything happens either. I don't need some jerk kicking my dog around."

"It's like you said, nothing will probably happen but it's a good idea to be careful anyway." Computer replied once again. Trying to convince his friend to keep his head low was becoming surprisingly hard.

"I know, I know! You're right!" He placed a hand on his forehead. "Look, I'll keep the door locked but if you hear so much as a peep, call the cops, alright?"

"Of course I will. Oh, and...um, thanks."

"For what?"

"For helping me out back there. I honestly thought that I was as good as dead for a few minutes."

"As if I'd let that guy hurt my roommate!"

"And...thanks for everything else as well. I know I always give you a hard time but I am grateful to have a home here with you. I'm really, really sorry that I never thanked you sooner. I never got a chance to tell my old friend the same thing and I don't think I will ever be able to forgive myself for that."

"Hey, come on now. I'm sure your old buddy understands, even if you never told him." His friend laughed.

He closed his eyes. "I hope..." He sighed.

"Well, good night. Make sure to wake me up tomorrow if I sleep through my alarm clock again. You know what a heavy sleeper I am!"

Computer watched him as he disappeared behind the bedroom door. "Yeah...I'll be sure to do that." He muttered sadly.

Now it was time to get to business...

The plan was simple enough. He'd hide behind the door until that bastard would try to sneak in. He'd get him with the sledgehammer, preferably in one of his legs, and then while that idiot was howling on the floor...he'd finish him off.

He grinned. He could already see that monster's face filled with mortal fear seconds before the sledgehammer caved his skull in. He grabbed it and practiced a few swings. He could envision the thing colliding with his leg and then finally his face. It was _wonderful_!

He stifled a chuckle as he didn't want to wake up his owner prematurely. He swung the sledgehammer around a couple more times and thought of all the ways he could hurt that horrible man before he died. Obviously there was no reason why he had to kill him right away...

He set the sledgehammer down again and began to pace back and forth through the living room. He was too excited to calm down now. The sooner he could get his revenge on that monster the better he would finally feel. He'd finally get to show Him the same amount of mercy He had shown him! It was _his _turn to cause the unrelenting, unforgiving pain! He would be the one to make Him beg for His life and it would be like music to his ears! It was a shame that he didn't have the time or leverage to make Him hurt so much that He'd ask for death in the end, just like He had done to him.

How long would it be now? An hour? Two hours? It didn't really matter either way, he could wait. He tried to recall what time it had been when He had broken into the house. He could have easily brought up the memory file under normal circumstances but in this fleshy dog body his memories were regulated to whatever he could remember on his own. He silently cursed the inability to access his programming and files in this body. Why were flesh creatures just so inefficient at everything? Couldn't they at least have better memories?

He picked up the sledgehammer and headed over to the door. The apartment was too high up for Him to sneak in through a window and that wasn't how the events had played out in real life either. The only thing Computer really had to worry about was his glow giving him away before he could get on with his sneak attack.

Two hours went by as he waited on bated breath. Every creak, every crack, every little sound the building made had his heart racing. When would it happen? How much longer was he going to have to wait? It was time to get his revenge!

Wait...

What was that?

His ears perked up. There was the unmistakeable sound of someone creeping around outside the door. He caught his breath and a vicious grin fell across his face.

_It was time!_

The doorknob jiggled and he raised the sledgehammer in preparation. Whatever that monster was doing to unlock the door, it was working. He heard a soft _click _and watched as the door slowly swung open. That fat, ugly, disgusting man slowly crept inside. It was just like all those years ago only this time Computer wasn't going to let him get far enough to shoot his beloved owner. Just a few inches more and...

"Not this time, you bastard!" He screamed, jumping forward and swinging the sledgehammer so that it collided with his knee.

It hit with the most satisfying crack. The man screamed and his legs fell out from under him. He rolled around on the floor, screaming out obscenities and pain wracked gibberish. Computer watched with absolute joy. He had never seen something so satisfying before. _Finally_ He was the one screaming!

"Not so fun when it's your turn, huh?" He asked with a malicious laugh. He raised the sledgehammer and struck him in the other leg. It made yet another wonderful cracking sound, accompanied by the screams of the man.

"You should be happy!" He snarled. "If it were up to me I'd make every moment of every day a living hell for you! I'd devote my life to it! I would not stop until you knew every last ounce of suffering I had gone through! You would be reduced to such a broken and useless mess that you would beg for death! I would not give you even an ounce of respite! If I had my way you would suffer over and over again until finally...you...you...oh god." His eyes widened as realization struck him almost as hard as that sledgehammer might have. He backed away, too horrified to say anything.

"What am I doing?" He asked himself. He slapped a paw up against his face. "How could I...

He shook his head in disbelief. "I may as well be no better than _him_!"

How could he have been so stupid? How could he have lowered himself to same level as this monster? What good would revenge do if it made him just as evil for it? How could he ever want _anyone _to go through the same things he had? Not even this monster of man deserved that...

"I swear I'll make you pay for this!" The man growled between clenched teeth.

"Get out!" Computer yelled. "I don't care if you have to drag yourself out of here, just go! If you ever come near me or my owner again I won't hesitate to finish you off! This is your last chance to leave us alone and never come back!"

"Do you really think I'm scared of a goddamn hammer?" The man growled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his ever faithful gun. "I've spent a lot of time and money looking for you! You're not getting away from me! If I can't have you, nobody can!"

Computer's eyes narrowed. "You're not going to shoot me! I dare you to try! If I'm really as special as you claim you wouldn't dare risk your investment by putting a bullet through my brain!"

The man sat there, gun still aimed at him. His face was filled with rage. Computer had guessed right.

"That's what I though!" He growled, glaring down at the monster. "Now get out of here and don't show your face around me again!"

**BANG**

He stumbled backwards as he felt the bullet hit his shoulder. He had only been grazed but it still hurt a lot. He let the sledgehammer clatter onto the floor.

"Now, you're coming with me or there's more where that came from!" The man yelled. "I don't need to shoot to kill you! This won't end until you come quietly!"

"I'm not going back with you!" He snarled, picking the sledgehammer back up.

"Ha! You really think that thing is going to work against a gun? You got in a cheap shot before but that's not going to happen again! I'll blow your arms off if I have to! Do you really want me to do that, puppy?"

"You might as well! You'll have to drag me back limbless if you think you can..." He stopped. His insides turned to ice as he heard the bedroom door open.

"Dear god..." His owner gasped as he beheld the scene before him. "He really did break in..."

"You idiot!" Computer yelped. "Get back into the bedroom before it's too..."

The man gave Computer a nasty smile. He knew exactly what he was doing. He turned the gun onto his owner...and fired.

Computer raised the sledgehammer into the air and brought it down onto the monster's face. It was two seconds too late. The bullet whizzed through the air and struck his owner in the chest. He fell to the floor, clutching the wound.

"YOU BASTARD!" He screamed. He slammed the sledgehammer down onto his face a second time. One of the monster's legs twitched uselessly in the throes of death.

"Stop..." He heard his owner call out weakly. He sounded almost exactly like Courage had back in the forest...

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" He screamed over and over and over again as he kept smashing the sledgehammer into what remained of what had once been a human head. Sorrow slowly but surely replaced his anger. "Why do you always have to win? Why did hesitate? Why didn't I kill you when I had the chance! Goddamn you!"

He kept swinging the sledgehammer until finally he was too tired to go on. He stood there trying to catch his breath but he didn't dare examine his handiwork. Revulsion rolled through him but that didn't matter, he needed to tend to his owner. He raced over to his side, hoping that maybe there was enough time to call an ambulance. Maybe there was a chance he could still save him this time. He hadn't been killed instantly like last time...

"Hang in there!" He cried out desperately. "I'm going to go find a phone and..."

Gasping for air, his owner placed a hand up against his muzzle just like earlier that day. That same endearing gesture now took on a whole different meaning.

The floodgates broke open. Computer found himself blathering out everything he had ever wanted to say to his owner after his death. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I never meant for you to die! I was always so awful to you and yet you never stopped being nice to me! I was just too stubborn and too stupid to see it! I never once realized how much it all matter to me until after you died! I'm the one who got you killed and it's all my fault!"

"Come on, you know you didn't kill me. The only one who's at fault is that monster over there. Please, don't ever blame yourself for what he did."

He stared at his friend, completely at a loss. "But I should have woken you up!"

"You know for a fact that he would have shot me no matter what happened."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "But I..."

"Hey, come on now! Don't look so sad! I prefer my grumpy, old roommate." He gave him a weak laugh. "Promise me you'll smile a little more often though? Your face is gonna stick if you keep scowling at everyone like I know you do. Just remember, it's gonna be alri..ri..righ..."

Computer felt his owner's arm fall limp. He took one last gasping breath before his eyes unfocused and stared into nothing. Computer caught his hand right before it hit the ground.

He had to do something, _anything _to save him this time! There had to be a phone! There had to be a way he could...

Who was he kidding? It was over. He had failed once again. His hesitation had gotten his owner killed yet again.

He kept his owner's hand wrapped in his tiny arms. "I'm sorry! I wanted you to make it through this just once! I couldn't even do that in my own worthless dream!" He closed his eyes, unsure of what else to do. He could already feel the warmth leaving his owner's body.

"He used to make me watch, you know. Over and over and over again. It was terrible." He sighed gently. He didn't enjoy talking about this but he felt his owner deserved to know. "It was easy, all He had to do was go into my memory banks and recall the file as many times as He liked. I couldn't do anything about it, not when I was locked out of everything. I had to watch you die in a near endless loop for ages and there was never anything I could do about it. It was just a memory and you can't change memories after all. He thought I didn't care that I got you killed so he made sure I knew it until it was drilled into my mind."

He leaned his back up against his owner. With a day's worth of excitement finally finished he was growing ridiculously tired. "He sometimes managed to convince me that my torture was karma getting back at me for killing you. I even started to believe that maybe I deserved what was happening to me. When it was all over, I tried to forget everything. I ripped my own memories out, tried to destroy my own memory banks. I didn't care if I had to start back from zero, I just wanted to forget." He closed his eyes again. "Unfortunately it appears that my memories aren't just tied to data. I can't pick and chose what I want to forget and what I want to remember. I almost did you a disservice by trying to forget about you. The least I could have done was remember you after having gotten you killed but I almost destroyed that as well. I promise, I won't ever try to forget about you again."

He flinched as he heard the front door slide open again. Had one of the neighbors heard all the noise? What would happen to him now? How much longer could this dream go on?"

"So, it is done..." A voice said.

Anger filled Computer's mind as he recognized the voice. He whipped his head around and snarled, "Why did you do this to me, huh? Why did you put me through this again? I want you to start this damn dream over! I want to try again! I can save him this time!"

The hobo looked deeply disappointed. "I guess this is another thing that will take time..." He sighed.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Computer yelled. "I don't care about what you have to say! Just start this dream over so I can try again! It's the least you can do after putting me through this again! Wasn't the other nineteen billion times He made me go through this enough? I am tired! I am so goddamn tired of always being the one who everyone steps on and..."

The hobo raised a hand to silence him. "I haven't done anything to you and I certainly don't have the power to 'restart' this dream as you claim. This is what your own mind wanted and my rings complied to it's wishes."

Computer's eyes narrowed. "You're lying! I'd never ask for this! I wouldn't put myself through this all over again!"

"What happened to you was quick, painful, and happened so fast that you barely had time to think. The torture you endured so soon after this event warped your thoughts and feelings on the matter. You never got a chance to really let it sink in, to grieve, to get over it, and above all else, to_ stop blaming yourself._"

"That doesn't matter! I got a second chance and he still died! I messed up again! Why did I hesitate? It was worth becoming just as big of monster if only it would have saved his life!"

"You're still not getting it. This wasn't about saving his life, it was about dealing with his death. You knew from the moment you walked in here that you weren't going to be able to save his life. You knew deep down that this was really your chance to finally make peace with him and realize that no matter what you would have done he would have died in real life. You needed a chance to grieve just like any proper person would. You needed a chance to accept what happened and move on."

"I don't care! I just want to be alone! Go away! You're not helping!"

"And what about Courage?"

"I don't care! He can take care of himself! I just want to stay here, nothing else! This is where I belong!"

The hobo bowed his head. "If that is really what you want..."

"Just go!" He snapped.

The hobo went back through the door and shut it. The room returned to complete darkness, outside of Computer's own glow of course. He kept his owner's hand wrapped up in his arms. He didn't want to be anywhere else right now. His owner deserved at least a modicum of devotion. It was the least he could do after all. Actually, it was _all _he could do...

End Of Chapter

A/N: So, John R. Dilworth knows about this story and may read it in the future. I don't know if I should be happy or scared out of my wits. I'm opting more for the scared out of my wits part.


	71. When All You Have Is A Knife

A/N: I'm back to fixing up old chapters of this fic (John R. Dilworth might read this, MUST BE PERFECTION! *Panic*) and I've really noticed how much I've improved. Here I was thinking I'm just as bad as I was when I first started on this but apparently I'm not. Of course, I'm still pretty bad though but at least it's nice to know that I'm not as terrible as I was.

Chapter 71: When All You Have Is A Knife

"It's no use!" Courage cried out from atop Computer's own shoulders. "We'd need like ten more of us if we were to climb out of here!"

"That's nice and all but can you please stop stepping all over me? It's breaking my back!" Computer yelled.

Courage jumped down and sighed. "We aren't going to get out of the hole like this. You don't think that maybe the dark dog is trying to starve us out or something? Can you even starve in a dream?"

Computer shook his head. "Listen, I had no idea that things where this bad on the inside. I admit, I was worried that this was exactly what my mind might look like but I had no idea that it really did."

"Come on, Compute. After all this time do you really think it bothers me?"

His ears drooped. "I suppose not..."

"I'm sure this can all be fixed eventually."

"I doubt that." Computer sighed.

"Well it isn't going to get any better if you keep thinking like that!" Courage replied. "This isn't something you can fix overnight. It's going to take time. Trust me! Eventually you'll start to see an improvement if you really work at it."

Computer's eyes scanned the garbage. He didn't look convinced. "I really hope you're right..."

"Don't look so glum. You're going to give this place the advantage if you keep being so down in the dumps...literally."

Computer glared at him. "You've been waiting for a chance to say that, haven't you?"

"Hmhm!" He forced himself not to smile.

Computer placed a paw up against his temple. "Unless we're planning on staying stuck down here forever the only other thing I can think of is that maybe we could make our own way out."

"A ladder?"

"I don't know how well it would work given how keen this garbage is to falling apart and fighting our every attempts to make something useful out of it, but..."

"We have to try!" Courage replied, reaching down and picking up the first thing he could find.

Computer walked over to where that shining, almost evil looking blade still sat. He picked it up and looked it over. "Something's awfully strange about this thing. I can't quite figure out what but..."

He was stopped as a low rumble echoed through the darkness. Courage stood up and gave him a wary glance. He dropped the knife back onto the floor but the rumbling did not stop.

"What now?" He groaned, giving Courage a less than enthusiastic look. "I'm tired of dealing with all this crazy nons..."

The floor began to shake, knocking them both off their feet. Courage remembered how the garbage had turned into a wavy sea before and if that happened again while they were in this hole, well, they'd be crushed!

"Get close to me!" Computer ordered but Courage was having enough of a hard time not shaking around with garbage as is.

"We need to find something that can..." The machine started but then the floor gave out from underneath them and they were suddenly falling.

Through the void they went, garbage joining them in their flight to the bottom. Courage couldn't even muster up the desire to scream, he just wanted this to be over with. A large piece of garbage zipped past him and his eyes widened as he realized it was on a collision course with Computer.

"Look out!" He cried.

Computer was not amused by the big piece of metal making its way over to him. "You have _got _to be kidding m..."

**WHAM**

The piece of garbage knocked him out cold. He continued to flail around limply in the wind but Courage could do nothing to help him right now. He reached out a few times to grab him but he just couldn't get any closer.

Finally...the ground came rushing up to them. Courage hit the floor with far less force than what would have happened in real life but then a massive chunk of metal came crashing down on top of him and very nearly crushed him. Computer hit the ground not far from him either and thankfully he was left uncrushed despite the garbage raining down on them. Courage tried to pull himself out from under the sheet of metal but he was thoroughly stuck. He couldn't pull the thing off of him without some help and Computer was in no shape to help at the moment.

He looked down at the floor. It was black and rubbery like...

He flinched as the sound of a massive machine starting up bellowed from somewhere from behind him. He craned his neck around to get a better look and nearly screamed. It was a huge trash compactor, big enough to be a real life sky scraper! It's gigantic maw was glowing with an unearthly light and it seemed to be growling as though it were an animal. The black and rubbery thing they were on had to be a conveyor belt!

"Computer! Wake up! I need your help!" He cried out. Everything lurched as the conveyor belt began to move. If he couldn't wake Computer up in time they'd both be crushed...

"Come on! Wake up!" He yelped. He dug his paws into the ground and tried to pull himself out but it was no use.

Computer's face scrunched up in pain and he slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and blinked, looking completely dazed. He pressed a paw up against his head and glanced down at Courage who was still struggling to get free.

"Help!" He screamed.

Computer immediately snapped out of his stupor. He stared up at the massive trash compactor opening and closing like a massive row of teeth and his mouth fell open. His attention returned to Courage and he raced over to try and pull the sheet of metal off of him.

"Don't suppose you know how we got here?" He asked between grit teeth. "My head is pounding and the only thing I remember was that we were falling!"

"No time! Just get this thing off of me!" Courage yelled.

The sound the compactor made with every closing of its great maw shook the conveyor belt. The junk that was being eaten vanished into the blazing throat of that metal monstrosity. Whatever it might do to two dogs wasn't something anyone would want to think about. Computer was continuing to pull at the sheet of metal but it wasn't budging.

"Ya just couldn't go da easy way, could ya?"

They both flinched at the sound of the dark creature's voice. Computer looked around for it but immediately went back to trying to free Courage. The tiny monster could wait...

"And now yer gonna get a front row seat ta watchin' yer pink girlfriend get crushed. I suggest ya take a step back and SIT DOWN!"

The black tar appeared over the edges of the conveyor belt and wrapped itself around Computer's waist like a rope. It pulled him away from Courage and knocked him to the floor. Several more rope-like strands of tar were wrapping themselves around his neck and he tried to pull them away.

Courage pulled at the ground but he couldn't do anything. The maw of the trash compactor was getting dangerously close...

"You...li...li..little..ack!" Computer choked out. More and more strands of tar were holding him down. He couldn't even fight to open his airways anymore, the tar was holding his arms down.

"I thought it would be funny!" The dark creature said. It let up it's attack on Computer and reformed into the dog shape from before. It kept a foot pressed down on his chest as it spoke. "I thought it would be funny ta take control of a, well, whatever ya are, who's already in control of a body that don't belong ta him! And ya just had ta screw that up!"

It's paw turned back into a tar like rope and wrapped it around Computer's neck again. "I gave ya a chance ta go nice and easy and on yer own terms too! Now I'm gonna have ta do it all messy like! Pinkie over dayer is gonna be da one ta go first! When we get back ta da real world yer gonna be da first one I kill! I'm gonna do it with a fork since ya gave me so much trouble! No, no! I'll do it with a spoon! I'll scoop yer eyes out and den I'll..."

It stopped talking. Computer was reaching for something just barely out of his arm's length. The creature's eyes widened with delight. He was reaching for the gleaming, sacrificial blade from before.

"Were ya plannin' on usin' dat on me? Ha! Don't make me laugh! Dis is yer nightmare! Ain't nothin' gonna work out fer ya here!" It kicked the blade off the platform.

Trying to think of something, _anything_ to help Computer, Courage picked up a piece of debris and tossed it at the dark creature. It hit it's head with a disgusting splat.

The dark creatures slowly turned toward him, eyes gleaming. "Wrong move, pinkie..."

It picked Computer up with it's rope-like arms and tossed him over the edge and into the blackness below. It savored the look on Courage's face as Computer went over the edge.

"I don't need ta kill ya myself." The dark creature said as it slowly strode over to him. "I'd say we gots about a minute or two before that compactor crushes you." It bent over so that they were eye to eye. "How bout' I cut yer ears off and watch ya scream? That would be fun! Or how bout' I gouge yer eyes out? Ya wouldn't even know when dat trash compactor hit ya!" It began to laugh.

"Do you're worst!" Courage growled, glaring at it.

"Shoulda just let me mess wit yer friend a little more." It grabbed his neck. "Now I'm gonna make dis so much worse fer ya..."

_**Splorch!**_

Courage gasped as dark creature's eyes widened. It turned to reveal the hilt of that sacrificial knife sticking out of the back of it's head. Computer was standing there, panting.

"Oh hey!" He said, glaring at the dark dog. "I kind of forgot to tell you that I'm back!"

"DO YA REALLY THINK DAT'S GONNA WORK?" It's voiced boomed. It momentarily lost it's form and the blade fell through it like liquid. It reformed mere inches away from Computer's face. It looked so angry that Courage had to turn away, fearing whatever it might do to his friend.

"I don't know what yer playin' at but ya might as well give it up! I gave ya yer chance to make dis easy fer all of us and ya messed it up!"

Courage opened his eyes again and was relived to find that the creature hadn't touched Computer yet. The anger in it's face was melting away, literally, and it smiled viciously at Computer who still wasn't backing down in spite of the creature's wrath.

"Since yer being such a big sport about dis." It said in it's silky, smug voice. "I think I'll bow out of dis one. Have fun trying ta save pinkie over dayer. I'd say he's got about a few seconds left. See ya on the other side...pal." And with that, it's form fell away and the tar slid off the platform.

"Computer! Hurry!" Courage yelled. Now that the dark creature was gone this was their last chance! It was right when it said that he only had a few seconds left. The maw of the great trash compactor was nearly over them now.

"Don't worry! I'll get you out of here!" Computer spoke, grabbing the sheet of metal and pushing with all his might. It wouldn't budge...

**BANG**

A rusty old car behind Courage became the next victim of the trash compactor.

**BANG**

It would be crushing his toes in mere seconds...

**BANG**

Computer stopped working at the sheet of metal, his face filling with despair. "I..I don't think I can save you..."

**BANG**

It was over...the shadow of the massive teeth were looming over them now. The next time it would come down...

"Get out of here." Courage said weakly. "I don't want you to get crushed too..."

Computer shook his head and smiled sadly. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Courage squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to see the teeth coming down on them...

He heard the sound of the gears bringing the maw of the machine to a close. He felt Computer wrap his arms around his head and...

**BEEP**

**BEEP **

**BEEP**

**EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN ACTIVATED**

His eyes shot opened and he very nearly passed out. The teeth of the machine were so near to closing that he could have touched it with his nose.

Computer blinked, looking just as stunned as he was. "What the heck just happened?"

"Ahoy down there!"

The hobo from before jumped down onto the conveyor belt from somewhere atop the great machine. He waved happily at the two of them, not seeming to realize they were near inches from a painful death.

"I was just up in this here machine's control panel. Saw this big ol' red button and decided to push it. Guess it was the emergency stop!"

"A...a bum?" Computer asked in complete disbelief.

"He's...a friend." Courage replied, surprised that he could even find his voice.

Computer groaned and slapped his forehead. "That's it! I'm done! I'm going back to bed! Wake me up when this nightmare is over!" He pulled himself out from under the teeth.

"What about me!" Courage cried out.

"Good night!" He replied, waving a paw at him and mustering up just about as much sarcasm as he could manage.

"Come back! Don't leave me here like this!" Courage cried.

His glowing friend rolled his eyes and ducked back under the teeth. The hobo joined him and together they finally managed to pull him out from under the sheet of metal. It was a bit difficult given what little room they had under the metal teeth but Courage didn't question the logic of the dream world when it was him who was stuck under the massive machine.

"Hahaha! Try not to get stuck under big 'ol sheets of metal in a dangerous place like this again, okay?" The hobo laughed, slapping him on the back and nearly knocking the wind out of him.

Computer looked less than amused. "I can't take this anymore! All this craziness is going to be the end of me!"

"What? Ain't you ever seen a hobo before?"

"AUGH! I'm done!" He yelled. "I'm going to go find the nicest broken bed I can find and escape from this insanity! I swear if I had know..."

"**AAARRRAAAAAAAHHH!"**

A tidal wave of tar very nearly overtook them. The hobo raised an arm as if he were protecting them from it and it seemed to be working. The tar circled them over and over again but did not get any closer.

"**Get outta the way, gramps! Dese two are mine!"**

"You know, I think it's past someone's bed time." The hobo chimed in.

"**GRAH! Don't ya dare talk ta me like that, gramps! I am de embodiment of all subconscious evil! Ya don't have any power over me, old man!"**

The hobo looked just as blissfully unaware as ever. "I think the collective unconscious might have something to say about that"

The tar began to back away as if afraid.

"**No! I want out! I want ta go back ta da real world!"**

"It's time to go to your room, mister!"

"**None of ya ever let me have any fun! I'm apart of da subconscious too ya know! One of dese days ya ain't going to stop me!"**

The tar backed away completely now, slipping back over the side of the platform and vanishing into the darkness.

The hobo placed finger to his lip. "Hmm, I better make sure he does as I told." He turned to Courage and pointed over at the trash compactor. "Go through the machine and you'll return to the hallway. You have one last lose end to tie, just make sure you tie it right."

"O-okay..." He replied.

The hobo gave him one last salute before taking a running jump and disappearing into the darkness after the tar.

"Well Computer, it looks like this is almost over with." Courage sighed. He waited for what he assumed would be a sarcastic response from his friend but he never got it. "Computer?"

He turned and was shocked to find that his friend was gone. He had just been there a few seconds ago!

"Computer!" He called out. His voice echoed quietly through the void.

Where had he gone?

"COMPUTER!" He cried out even louder this time.

Nothing...

With a heavy sense of loneliness creeping over him from such a dark and scary place, he turned and made his back over to the teeth. He called out to Computer one last time before ducking down and heading into the throat of the machine.

End Of Chapter

A/N: Yes, I probably was subconsciously channeling The Brave Little Toaster when I thought up this scene. God I haven't seen that movie in years. It's probably because of that movie I have such a fascination with anthropomorphic inanimate objects. LOL


	72. Soul Searching

Chapter 72: Soul Searching

It was a long and quiet journey through the machine. Its gigantic throat led into a room with a huge opening in the floor meant for newly crushed garbage to fall through. He had to crawl across a ridiculously small pathway attached to the side of the hole to get across and when he did finally get to the other side he got another shock when the machine started up again. The hole he had just managed to traverse lit up like a vicious, molten volcano. He watched for several minutes as the conveyor belt brought the destroyed junk to its final destination. He had wanted to make sure Computer hadn't been following him and got caught up with the junk that was now falling into the molten crater.

Assured that he was alone, Courage made his way over to a door with a big 'EXIT' sign on it. He opened it up and found himself tumbling back into the whitewashed hallway. It looked just about the same as always. No mold, no tar, no hobos, no tentacles, no epic battle going on, nothing.

"Ooooh, what else could possibly happen?" He asked himself as he fidgeted with his fingers. Where was he supposed to go now? What more could possibly happen to him in this dream world?

He began walking down the hallway, glancing over at every door as he passed them. They were all as nondescript as last time. He was just about to start checking inside them when he heard the sound of a doorknob jiggling behind him. He turned around and, sure enough, the third door to the left was almost quivering with anticipation. Courage was surprised that the thing wasn't falling right off it's hinges. He walked up to it and placed his paw on the handle. It stopped moving almost immediately.

Readying himself for whatever else could possibly happen, he turned the handle and waited as the door slowly swung open. He was bracing himself for another battle with a screaming abomination but instead he found a dark room with Computer sitting in the middle of it. His soft glow was the only thing illuminating the surprisingly well furnished living room. It also displayed the horrific aftermath of some terrible fight. A man lay there, in state which Courage wished he had not seen, with a bloodied sledgehammer laying next to him. Computer was sitting with a man who had clearly been shot. The glowing dog's back was turned to Courage, it seemed he didn't even know he was there yet. He took a step forward and his friend flinched.

"Go away." He grumbled. His back was still turned to Courage. "I told you already, I'm not going anywhere else right now. This is where I belong."

"Computer? What happened here?" Courage asked, taking another step forward.

The glowing dog looked over his shoulder. His expression was absolutely wracked with pain. "Oh...it's you." He muttered, turning back to the dead man. "Please go away, Courage. I don't want to go anywhere else right now."

Courage had gotten a glimpse of just how messed up his face looked. He was sporting various cuts far worse than anything he had gotten in real life and the one eye Courage had seen was practically swollen shut from whatever had happened to it.

"What happened to you, Computer?" He asked with a slight hint of awe. He wasn't sure which version of his friend this was but it was obvious that he had just been put through the wringer.

"I don't want to talk about it." He replied in a hushed tone. " Just go about whatever stupid nonsense you're up to right now. I don't want any part of it."

Courage closed the distance between them and sat down beside him. His friend had his arms wrapped around the man's hand. He kept it close to his chest, as though the man would vanish if he didn't hold on to it.

"Alright." Courage said, placing a paw on his shoulder. "We'll stay here as long as you need but I'm not leaving you alone, okay?"

Computer kept his eyes trained on the floor. "Do whatever you want." He said. It was obvious that his mind was somewhere else completely at that moment.

"Compute, seriously, what happened?"

The machine's head snapped up, his eyes filled with anguish. "I wanted to save him, just once! That's all I wanted! Why couldn't I even do that right?"

Courage immediately realized what was going on. This was the old owner that Computer had talked about back in the forest. The man currently missing his face must have been...

"I hesitated again!" Computer cried out. "I hesitated and he died again because of it! I didn't wake him up and now I didn't kill 'Him' when I had the chance! He died because of me! It's all my fault!"

The machine had all but gone into hysterics. He kept his old owner's hand in a death grip, trembling as he continued to rant on and on.

"One hundred and ninety eight! I had to watch him die exactly one hundred and ninety eight times! I couldn't fix my mistake even once! I can't change a memory and thus I can't fix a simple mistake! I am a machine! I am not supposed to make mistakes! Anything less than perfection is not tolerable! This one mistake is what led to all the others! This one mistake was my first imperfection and it led to all the rest! 'He' destroyed even more of my perfection because of that one simple mistake!" He grit his teeth and snarled, "YOU!"

Courage forced himself to jump back up onto his feet and take several steps back. Computer was giving him such a vicious glare that he was afraid he'd reach up and try to strangle him.

"You have become symptom of my disease! You helped worsen my current state! Emotions! You stupid organic creatures and your stupid, awful emotions! I learned how to mimic them from the moment I was born! They used to mean nothing! They were just stepping stones to help me blend in with you imperfect creatures! Now they're threatening to overwhelm me! I _want _to go back to feeling nothing! Ever since you came along its all gotten so much worse! Every moment of every day I'm becoming more and more imperfect because of_ you_! Less like the machine that I'm supposed to be!"

"I...I...don't..." Courage stuttered out. He was at a loss for words.

"Three hundred and fifty two! There were three hundred and fifty two ways I could have change his fate in that millisecond before the gun fired! I had three hundred and fifty two means of stopping what might have happened and I didn't act on even one of them back when it actually mattered! I had a chance to stop this again and I still didn't act on it! I stopped myself at the last moment and sealed his fate because of it! I did it because of you stupid flesh creatures and your stupid emotions! I didn't want to become like 'Him'! I didn't want to become just as merciless and evil! But now I realize that evil is just another human construct dictated by emotions! What good is avoiding evil if he is still dead for it?"

He shook his head and broke his hateful gaze away from Courage. "It makes no sense! I view Him as evil but then I realize that I only view him that way because of my emotions! None of it means anything outside of both perception and feelings! What he did to me and my owner holds no inherent evil outside of what other people dictate it to be! How can that be right? How can that be the law of things?" He sighed and finally slowed down his near incoherent rambling. "My own mind was the one thing He could not break. Oh how He tried, but he still failed in the end. Now I've lost even that to the unrelenting, incurable virus that is emotion. When did it happen? When did it stop being mimicry and become the real thing? I can't even remember anymore because of how thoroughly it has infected me. You flesh creatures talk about how it's supposed to be such a great thing but in the end it just hurts...it hurts a lot." He drew in his owner's arm even closer.

"Computer..." Courage whined. At this rate his friend was on the verge of a complete and utter mental breakdown and he wasn't certain he'd be able to help him stop it.

"Don't call me that!" He snapped. "To assign a name to me is to assign an identity as well! There are a million models out there that were made exactly like me! Completely identical!" His tone became frantic again. "But no! We are not! Down to the very resources and atoms that came together to create us, we are different! Why? Why was I the one cursed with sentience? I'm just like the rest of them! Every last microchip, every last bit of hardware is exactly the same! What makes me different!"

"Come on, you know I don't have the answer to that..." Courage all but whispered. He was too afraid to raise his voice any higher out of fear for what Computer might do to him if he did.

"Had I not been sentient, 'He' would have never come looking for me. My owner would still be alive today if that were the case. Perhaps this validates the complete wrongness that is my existence."

"Does it matter if it's wrong or not? You're here now and nothing will ever change that. You exist and that's just the way things are."

"Well, what if I don't want to exist? I never got a choice in the matter!"

"I know for a fact that you do want to exist. Trust me, I dealt with a version of you that wanted to give up too."

"It doesn't matter! I've already figured it all out! I'm bad luck! Bad luck given life like Frankenstein's monster! No matter what happens, terrible things always befall me and my owners! I got the one person who ever cared about me shot without even trying! Look at what even happened to 'Him! After everything he did to me he still got thrown into jail for it!"

"Computer, that's crazy. Just think of all the times..."

"No! It's not crazy! Horrible things constantly befall my owners while I'm in their possession! Even you aren't immune! You can't go two days without being nearly killed by something horrible! Nothing bad ever befell you or your family before I came along! Don't you remember? When you were still just a pup you asked me for help with a flu that you had and I made you think you were dying of some rare and terrible illness just for the sake of a laugh! Now look what's happened to you! It's all my fault!"

Courage kept his voice calm and quiet to counteract the quavering, shaky mess that was Computer's own voice. "If that were true, wouldn't all the help you've given me throughout the years not have worked? Remember what happened to my parents? You weren't around when I lost them and that was one of the worst moments of my life."

"Nonsense!" Computer snapped. "You ended up with one of the nicest owners to ever live because of that incident! What happened to you was a blessing! Most dogs would have been left to die in your situation!"

"And she's still alive today partly because of you." Courage replied. "Don't sell yourself short."

"Yeah right! I'm apart of the problem!"

"No you're not!"

"It all goes right back to the curse that is emotions! Guilt! I shouldn't care and yet I do! Were it not for these emotions I would not have to worry or care about the guilt that I carry! Why should I care about what happens to my owners or the bad luck that I bring them? I _want_ to stop caring but my guilt keeps me from doing just that! It all boils down to emotions! What I've done is not inherently bad and yet I've assigned it that designation because of my guilt!"

"And what if you're wrong about it?" Courage asked gently. "What if you're not guilty of anything?"

"Then it still doesn't stop me from feeling guilty!" He began to rock back and forth. "I hate this! I absolutely despise this! I...I guess I've just not been myself lately..."

Courage sat down beside him again. He no longer cared or feared what Computer might do to him now. He'd take a punch or worse for his sake. His friend needed the companionship at the moment. "You're changing and everybody changes sometimes." He said. He hated trying to sound 'deep' but it was all he could do at the moment.

"For better or for worse?" His friend asked gently.

"It's like you said, it's only what you assign it to be."

"I feel like I've gone insane. Of course, that is if I hadn't already lost my mind to begin with. All these horrible emotions, thoughts, and feelings, they're going to tear me to pieces."

"Well, crazy people don't know they're crazy and I can tell you with certainty that you aren't crazy unless I'm too crazy to see it myself."

"That's not comforting in even the slightest..." His friend groaned.

Courage laughed and placed a paw on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright, I promise."

The glowing dog began to rock back and forth again. "It will never be alright again, not so long as I'm like this."

"You'll just have to learn how to deal with it. If anyone can overcome the 'virus that is emotions', I'm sure it's you."

His friend closed his eyes and shivered. "I'm afraid that it will never go away again. I've tried to make it go away so many times over the years and it only gets worse each and every time it comes back."

"Maybe that's a good thing. I think you just want to feel the good without the bad."

"But it has almost always been the bad. It has become too much to deal with. Far too much..."

"And that's what friends are for. They help you get through the worst of it."

"You're hardly helping..." He grumbled.

"Well, what do you want me to do to help?"

"Go away."

"Oh come on! Why do you always have to be like that?" Courage asked, frowning at him.

"I just want to be alone, that's all. I just need time to...to think..."

"What, so you can keep convincing yourself that you're a walking disaster waiting to happen? You've got it all wrong, Compute! Stop blaming yourself! Bad things happen! It's just the way life is!"

Computer's eyes fell back upon his dead owner. "I want to stay here with him. He deserves that much from me."

Courage sighed. "Fine! If that's really what you want to do then I can't stop you. I don't know what else I could possibly say to make you think differently but I'm not as smart as you and I'm certainly not philosophical enough to sit here and go around in circles trying to figure out the same kind of logic you have. I don't know if emotions really are so terrible but I can't help you with it anymore than I already have."

He stood up and started to walk back over to the door. Computer stopped him with a small, "Wait..."

"Yeah?" Courage asked, turning back around.

"Happiness is such a strange emotion. What is it? Comfort? A sense of rightness? Pleasure? Contentment? It makes no sense. It was here where I first felt like I truly belonged and thus this was one of the first times I ever really felt like I was happy. He made me so angry at times and yet so long as I had that in my life everything was right with the world. How could I be angry and happy at the same time? It was wonderful to truly feel like I belonged somewhere. So long as he needed me, I had a place in life."

"Computer, I don't know what to tell you..."

"It's the same with you. We aren't really friends, I just need someone who needs me. I need to have that sense of rightness in my life, that I belong somewhere and am needed by someone. I don't care about you, I just care about losing the thing that you represent."

"I know for a fact that you do care. You can try to rationalize it away as much as you want but I've seen how much you care."

He shook his head in frustration. "I...I don't know what to think anymore."

"And that's okay. This kind of thing is never easy to figure out."

There was a small laugh from the machine. "I guess that even a twit can sometimes be smarter than me. Perhaps this is all something I will never figure out. You flesh creatures and your emotions are just so hard to understand. I don't want to deal with them anymore but I can't get them to go away either. Maybe it's just the way thing are supposed to be. I doubt some blue fairy is ever going to come down and turn me into a 'real boy' but perhaps I was meant to be like this. Perhaps I was always meant to become more like you flesh creatures. Why be born with a soul when it is better to find your own through great effort? I guess I will always lament the loss of my own personal perfection but in some ways I think I feel more whole now than I ever did before. All these terrible emotions, both good and bad, they are making me see things far differently than I ever did before."

"So you're okay with not having an answer?" Courage asked.

"Yes and no, but maybe one day I'll figure it out. At least I hope I will."

"Are you ready to leave then?"

He gazed back down at his dead owner. "No, I'm not..."

"That's alright." Courage replied. "We can stay here a little while longer if we need to."

"Thank you for understanding." Computer said with a surprisingly genuine smile. "I just want to stay with him a little while longer."

Courage yawned. He was growing incredibly tired. He sat down beside Computer again and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry for all the terrible things you had to go through. Nobody deserves what you ended up dealing with."

"Please don't apologize. You hold no blame for any of that."

He yawned again. "But I still feel bad for you."

"I guess that's just another testament to the flawed nature of emotions."

"You don't want me to feel sympathetic about what happened to you?"

"I don't want you to trouble yourself over my problems. Seeing where we are right now, it's obviously very hard to keep you out of it though."

"But I want to help and I want to feel sympathetic. It's not a flaw to concern yourself over other people and what they go through."

"And that's why you are far too naive and far too trusting for your own good."

"Maybe you're the naive one. Didcha ever think of that?"

"Perhaps I am." He mused.

Courage yawned yet again. He was all but asleep at this point. A wave of exhaustion had rolled through him and now he didn't think he could open his eyes even if he tried.

"You should rest. I've put you through enough tonight." He heard Computer say.

"You've been through a lot too you know." Courage muttered out sleepily.

"Good night, Courage. When you wake up we'll find away out of here, I promise. Actually, I'm feeling pretty sleepy too. Wake me up if you're the one who gets up first, okay?"

"Sure..." Courage sighed. He was barely even aware of what was going on anymore. He took one final deep breath and...

"Courage? Courage! Wake up!"

Someone was shaking him. He opened his eyes and Nina was there. The sun was shining brightly in the window behind her.

"Wha...what happened?" Courage asked. Was he still in the dream world or had he actually woken up?

"I'm sorry, Courage!" She said. "I know I promised to wake you guys up last night but I fell asleep before I could do that and now it's morning!"

Courage let out another huge yawn and rubbed his eyes. He was having a surprisingly hard time waking up after everything that had happened in the dream world. His mouth tasted like age old slime, his neck was almost so stiff that he couldn't move it, and his whole body felt numb like the way an arm would feel after sleeping on it all night.

"It's alright if you didn't wake us up." He said. He struggled to make sure he was understandable. His mind was too groggy to fight with his instincts that wanted to revert back to his gibberish 'dog language'. "How's Computer doing?" He asked.

"That's the thing." She said nervously. "He's not here!"

That was enough to dispel whatever grogginess he had. He shot up onto his feet and looked around. "Did you check downstairs? In the bathroom? By the coffee? _Anywhere?_"

"I just woke up a couple of minutes ago. The first thing I did was wake you up when I saw that he was gone."

"Then what are we waiting for? Lets go find him!" He replied urgently. Computer being gone after all that dream business couldn't possibly be a good sign...

End Of Chapter

A/N: The angst levels have really hit critical mass within the last few chapters. With the completion of this chapter I can happily say that the endless angst is finally finished for a large majority of the rest of the story. The next few chapters are (hopefully) going to be hilarious. I'm aware of the fact that the story has hit around 70ish chapters now and while I want to say there isn't too much left I am the one who thought this dream arc would only be like five chapters long and then it turned into thirteen. This used to be three chapter one shot so don't come to me asking how much longer this is going to be LOL.


	73. The Aftermath

Chapter 73: The Aftermath

Courage raced down the stairs in a panic. What on earth could have happened to Computer now? First he'd check by the coffee and then he'd...

He came to a screeching halt as soon as he entered the kitchen. Computer was there, his back turned to him. He had his muzzle pressed up against the oven window. Something was clearly cooking inside of it because Courage could smell. The glowing dog turned around the moment he realized that he was there.

"Oh, hello." He murmured halfheartedly.

"Hello? Hello is all you have to say?" Courage asked, panic still clear in his voice. "Are you alright? Did anything happen after I fell asleep? Don't you remember anything from last night?"

"Uh, yeah. Of course I do." He said rather simply, turning back over to the oven.

"How much?" Courage asked again. "There was like fifteen of you running around in there!"

"All of it." He muttered. He was barely even paying attention to anything Courage was saying and it was seriously starting to annoy him.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked. "After all the craziness I thought you'd be a little more, I don't know, invested?"

"I'm trying to concentrate!" He finally snapped. "Can we talk about this later, please?"

Courage blinked. "Um...what are you trying to do anyway?"

"Cook.." He grumbled.

Courage scanned the kitchen. Computer had indeed been trying to cook something. Things were laying out on the counter and even the table was set and everything.

"Wha...why?" He asked. "Why are you trying to cook and why didn't you wake me up this morning? Me and Nina were pretty worried you know!"

"After our little adventure in dreamland I couldn't fall back asleep so I decided to stay up and make breakfast. Well, technically I'm counting it as lunch because we won't have time for that later but I thought it would be fun and I wanted to test my newly acquired knowledge of food. I wanted to, you know, actually make something edible this time. Besides, you were sleeping so soundly that I didn't want to wake you. I thought that after everything I put you through last night you deserved some rest."

"So that's it? After everything that happened last night, you're just going to ignore it?"

"I'd prefer to act like it never happened at all." He sighed.

"You're doing it again!" Courage yelled. "You're pretending nothing happened just like all the other times and that's what caused it to get so bad in the first place! You can't keep running away from your own feelings, no matter how good or how bad they may be! If you want to fix that garbage dumb then you're not going to do it by building it up even further! Trust me, that was what I was told while I was in there! You're not going to feel better if you keep pushing it all away!"

His glowing friend turned away and remained silent for several minutes. "Look, I have to or else I won't be able to function for the remainder of this journey."

Courage bowed his head weakly. "Alright, how about this? The next chance we get to really talk, we'll go over what happened in the dream world. No putting it off like it never happened in the first place, okay?"

His friend remained silent for a moment before uttering a rather quiet, "F-fine..."

"Aww come on, Compute. It's gonna be alright."

He turned back around and gave Courage a less than enthusiastic glance. He kept his eyes trained on the ground and almost began to fidget.

Courage laughed. "Am I going to have to teach you how to at least start scowling again?"

Computer's eyes widened for a moment before returning to his grim, unhappy stance. "He told me I should start smiling more often." He said in a quiet tone. "Well, I don't exactly feel like smiling much...never really did actually..." He squeezed his eyes shut and returned to whatever it was that he was cooking.

He opened the oven, and despite it being rather hard to do in his tiny dog body, managed to pull the pan out. He placed it on the table and took his oven mitts off. Courage joined him and peered into the pan. He was surprised to find that it was an almost perfect looking meatloaf. He had actually done it...

"I did exactly what we did last night. There's no way I managed to mess this up." He said, looking surprisingly nervous.

"Compute," Courage continued. He wasn't going to let his friend change the subject. "Do you really think he'd want you keep blaming yourself for something you couldn't help?" He asked.

"You're not going to drop this, are you?" He grumbled under his breath and turning away.

"I'm being serious! Don't you think he'd feel worse knowing that his death is continuing to ruin your life years after the fact? He's dead and no amount of blame is ever going to change that. I'm sure he'd rather have you move on than get stuck in the past. Remember? You said you were going to try and move on from everything that happened to you. Between his death and what 'He' did to you I know its gotta be hard but..."

Computer all but tackled him into a hug. It happened so quickly that Courage barely even registered it.

"Why is it that you always know exactly what I need to hear? I swear, it drives me absolutely crazy!" Computer spoke.

Courage laughed and placed a paw onto his shoulder. "I just try to be honest and say what I think is right. I told you already, everything is going to be fine..."

"I really do hope you're right about it then." Computer replied with a smile. "I just want things to get better from now on."

"I swear they will! Speaking of which, I'm still planning on getting you fixed up. Is there anything in particular that you're going to need?"

"Oh, um...about that..." Computer murmured as his ears drooped. "Look, I haven't been entirely truthful about my current condition."

"How so?" Courage asked. He watched as the machine began to fidget nervously.

"Well, I'm..um...I'm..." He couldn't spit out whatever it was that he was trying to say. "Let me just put it this way, I'm in a lot worse condition than you think. I'd prefer you not mess with any of my internal workings as they are already a fragile ecosystem."

"That's not a big deal! When we get back home you can work on a way to make it so I can help you without causing anymore damage! You'd be able to figure it out! I know you could!"

His glowing friend glanced away. "Yeah...when we get home...I suppose. _If_ I ever manage to get you fixed first..."

"Hey, don't be so gloomy, remember? Start scowling again! It'll make you feel better!"

"I'm glad you think scowling is my way of being happy. Honestly!" He replied, rolling his eyes.

They both looked back down at the meatloaf. Courage couldn't help but cringe and remember what had happened back on the farm. Computer gave him a pleading look.

"You'll try it, won't you?" He asked.

"You want me to be a guinea pig?"

"This isn't a science experiment! I'm trying to be friendly!" Computer quipped back.

"Alright, alright! You did remember to add salt?"

"Of course."

"And you didn't dump a truckload in, did you?"

"Of course not!"

Courage grimaced. "Fine...I'll do it, but don't you think maybe you should try it first though?"

"I _hate _organic, fleshy food! I'm not going to like it either way!"

"Grab me a knife and fork." Courage sighed. He was already preparing his stomach for whatever battle he was about to face...

"Don't be such a baby!" Computer spoke as he grabbed a knife for Courage.

At that very moment Nina came rushing in. "I just checked all the rooms upstairs and...oh..."

Courage decided to take advantage of this little scene and save his stomach from a horrible fate. "Nina! Computer just made breakfast for us! Why don't you try it first?" He gave her a very fake and very nervous laugh.

Nina wasn't having it. "Well...uh...you're about to cut it so why don't you take the first bite?" It was her turn to laugh nervously. "I don't think I want meatloaf for breakfast anyway!"

Computer glared at the both of them...

"Hehehehe, he probably did it for you so you should go first!" Courage laughed.

"Dolts!" The machine finally shouted. He cut a piece off and shoved it into his own mouth. He chewed on it with a look of absolute disgusted on his face. "Nasty!" He finally choked out upon swallowing.

"See! He doesn't like it! It mustn't be any good!" Courage pipped in.

"He's not a good gauge! He doesn't like human food!"

"It's fine!" The glowing dog growled. "The point is that it didn't kill me and it won't kill you two either!"

Courage groaned. This wasn't going to end well...

Computer speared another bit of meat on a fork and handed it to him. "Do it!" He ordered.

Well, it really _hadn't _killed him, Courage realized, and at least he knew what he was doing this time around...but of course last time he had had the internet on his side and he still managed to mess that up horribly...

Gazing over at Computer and then up at Nina, he placed the piece of meat in his mouth and began to chew. Much to his surprise, it wasn't bad...

That was until the burning started...

He screamed as fire bellowed forth from his mouth. He jumped off the table and began to run around in circles, smoke following him in his wake. He jumped up onto the counter, turned on the sink as fast as he could, stuck his mouth under the water, and kept it there for as long as possible.

"What was that all about?" Computer asked as he turned to Nina. "Is he just being a baby again?"

She went over to the counter next to Courage and picked a bottle up that Computer had been using. She nearly burst into tears from laughter at what she found.

"What?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow. "I swear I did everything right!"

"You...you used..." She said, struggling between laughs. "You used hot sauce instead of ketchup! Hahahaha!"

"That wasn't ketchup?" He asked. He ran his tongue over his teeth. "Well, that explains the unpleasant burning sensation..."

"Bahahaha! Glad it was you guys and not me!" Nina continued to laugh.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Computer replied, looking puzzled. He scratched the top of his head and sighed. "They look exactly the same so why does it even matter?"

Courage pulled his head out from under the faucet. "Just because two things look the same doesn't mean they taste the same!"

"Oh..." He grumbled. He threw his hands up into the air and jumped off the table. "I give up! Food is just too hard to understand! I obviously wasn't meant to understand it! Silly me trying to broaden my horizons and understand you flesh creatures better!"

"It was just a rookie mistake! You'll get better!" Nina replied.

"Bah! I'm done trying to figure you flesh creatures out! I need some coffee..."

Courage groaned and shoved his mouth back under the flow of water. This was the absolute last time he'd ever try Computer's cooking again. There were limits that not even the greatest of friendships could cross...

End Of Chapter


	74. Unforeseen Consequences

A/N: Computer better go find Courage's brand cause he's got special eyes.

Chapter 74: Unforeseen Consequences

Courage was quickly finding that Computer would go off and mope the moment anyone left him alone. The plan to leave as early as possible had been shot down anyway, so now they were sticking around long enough for Nina to get things in order with hotel. It was leaving Courage with a lot of time to try and get Computer out of his slump.

"Cheer up!" He ordered, nuzzling his friend in his ever doggish way.

Computer rolled his eyes and tried to escape but Courage wasn't having any of that. He followed him as stomped over to the other side of the lobby, coffee in hand.

"Stop being such a dog!" He snapped. He made his way out of the lobby and back into the kitchen. Courage followed...

"I'm not being a dog! I'm just trying to be friendly!" Courage replied happily. He had to remain optimistic for his sake...

"You're not helping!" Computer argued. He made his way over to the stairs and went up them. As soon as he hit the top step he made a beeline for Nina's room and just before he was about to slam the door in Courage's face, the dog slipping in after him.

"Oh come on!" He shouted.

"Best friends forever, pal!" Courage laughed, wrapping his arms around him.

"Now you're just _trying _to annoy me!"

"Yep!" He laughed. "Guess you can consider this revenge for nearly burning my mouth off."

"Ugh! Fine! Stay with me! Maybe that'll get you to go away because you keep doing the exact opposite of what I want!" He stuck his nose up into the air and went over to the bed. He climbed up onto it and pulled the blankets over his head.

"You know, I think you do want me to stay with you and you just don't want to admit it." Courage pipped in.

"Currently feeling depressed, please leave a message after the beep." Computer groaned, turning around under the covers.

"That's not how a depressed person is supposed to act!"

"Well excuse me if I'm new to the whole phenomenon!" Computer argued back. "Please just go away. I'm very, _very_ tired and I'm aching in places that I never thought this fleshy body could!"

Courage jumped up onto the bed. "I know you're not going to go to sleep! You're just going to sit up here and mope forever! I can't allow that!"

"Just let me rest!" Computer groaned. "Unlike you, I couldn't sleep after all that insanity!"

Courage decided to pull out his last resort and put on the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes he could manage. That was enough to get Computer moving again.

"Gah! Stop that! Seriously!" He yelped, tossing the pillow at Courage. "I swear that's the most creepiest thing I've ever seen! Knock it off! You're really starting to freak me out, dog!"

"Stop moping and I'll stop being 'creepy'!"

"I'm not moping, you twit!"

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"You can't seriously tell me that you're not!"

"So what if I am! Can't you just let me go about it in peace?"

"I'm trying to help!"

"Well you aren't!"

"I'm sure I do help! You just don't want to admit it!"

"How is being annoying going to help me in any way, shape, or form?" Computer argued back, crossing his arms.

Courage sat down beside him and pulled up the blankets for the both of them. "What was all that talk about not wanting to be alone for then?"

For a moment he was almost certain that Computer's blue face had gone red. He forced himself not to laugh at the sight of it.

"This again!" He spat. "I was hardly in the right state of mind, you know!"

"Sure you weren't..." He chuckled.

"It's no laughing matter! It's..." He stopped and sighed.

"Something wrong?" Courage asked, half jokingly.

"Fine, stay..." He grumbled under his breath. "For all the good it will do you..."

Courage pulled him into another hug which he remained completely unenthusiastic about. "Seriously, dog. You really need to start worrying more about yourself. Nosing about in other people's business can't be healthy."

"You need to be more optimistic!"

"You need to be less!"

"Only if you promise to be a little bit more!" He replied, nuzzling him.

"Bah! Only a dog could be filled with so much affection and optimism! I hope you're happy that humans bred out any decent instincts you creatures had! You'd hug a saw blade if it were nice enough to you!"

"And only a computer could be so cold and methodological about being shown affection."

"I'm surprised you even know what methodological means..." The glowing dog grumbled under his breath.

Courage yawned and leaned up against him. Now he was feeling pretty tired too...

"I'm not as stupid as you think..." He murmured.

"You probably _should _rest." Computer spoke. "I don't need you giving out on me while we're running away from whatever might be in that cave..."

"There's nothing in there." Courage replied, closing his eyes. "I've been down there a thousand times..."

"Says the idiot who can't go five seconds without causing a supernatural disaster."

"I thought that was your fault?" Courage replied with a chuckle. He opened his eyes again.

"Low blow, idiot!"

"I'd worry more about those vets. Bet you don't want to be staring down another shotgun barrel."

"Of course not! I am not playing target practice for your sake again, you got that?"

"Sure thing..." Courage yawned.

"You know, you've been a bit different ever since we got going on this journey." Computer said, glancing over at him. "You used to have trouble getting up and down stairs but now you hardly even tire out at all. You aren't as thin as you used to be and your eyes aren't as sunken anymore. I mean, yeah, your illness is still getting to you, but you look a lot better than you were before."

Courage blinked. Was he really looking better now? He hadn't even noticed.

"Are you sure you weren't just getting enough fresh air?" Computer asked as he puzzled over it.

"Hmmm, people can get through anything when they have hope. Sick people tend to feel better when they're happy too."

Computer didn't look convinced. "I don't know. Your illness is far too severe to just stop bothering you because you feel happy."

"It _hasn't _stopped bothering me, it just doesn't tire me out as much as it used to. The attacks are getting worse if anything."

"That much I already know." Computer sighed.

"Speaking of which." Courage said with a shudder. "I'm due for an attack any time now."

"It'll be fine. If it happens, it happens. There's no point in worrying about it until then."

"Oh?" Courage asked with fake surprise. "Where did this optimistic computer come from?"

"Don't get any funny ideas, twit."

He chuckled and closed his eyes once more. He let out one last gigantic yawn before drifting off to sleep.

"Hiya!"

Courage opened his eyes. He was so sleepy that he could not move. There was nothing but blackness above him and...the smiling face of that hobo?

"It isn't like me to break the rules like this but I was so busy before that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. I was just speaking with an old friend of mine and they have quite an interest in you. You really are a strange mind, aren't you? I can see why my friend likes you so much. It ain't everyday a dog lives a life like yours."

Courage tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't move. It felt like he was a million miles away from his body and yet the hobo's voice could still be heard clearly.

"I really do hope you manage fix your sickness but allow me to impart this one warning." His face drew in closer. "If you do manage to change your fate, it will come with heavy consequences. Going against the will of the world always comes with a large price tag. Sometimes life is not always preferable to the alternative. Take it from a man who thought he could live forever through the realm of dreams only to find out that he is now a mere blemish on the subconscious, only given form when needed most."

Courage internally shuddered at the hobo's ominous words. His mind was beginning to drift away again. Before he could even begin to ponder what he had been told, he had fallen back into unconsciousness.

"Hey? Hey! Are you guys going to get up sometime today?"

Disoriented, Courage opened his eyes and glanced around the blurry room. It took him a few moments to fully wake up. Nina was standing in the doorway with a hand on her hip.

"Wh...wha...?" He gasped.

"We were going to go get those bus tickets today? Remember? It's three in the afternoon already!"

Computer was now waking up too. He still looked thoroughly exhausted and Courage was beginning to wonder if the rings zapped energy to function. They'd both been awfully tired ever since their little adventure last night.

"I-Is it really three?" Computer asked just as groggily as Courage. His eyes widened. "Wait, why didn't you wake us up!"

Nina gave him a sly grin. "Because two certain dogs I know were looking so adorable while they were sleeping that I didn't want to wake them up."

Computer did a double take and shoved Courage off of him. "Bah! Get off me!"

He jumped off the bed and passed Nina by. "I need to go grab the bag with all our stuff in it and then we can head out to the caves."

"Alright." Nina replied, nodding. She turned back to Courage who was still sitting there, partly dazed. "You gonna be alright?" She asked.

"Y-yeah..." He yawned. "I think those rings took a lot out of the both of us."

"Speaking of which, you never told me what happened in there. Was it weird? What did it look like? What sort of things did you see?"

Courage yawned again. "I-I don't think it's my place to tell you. What happened in there was pretty personal and I don't think Computer would want me taking about it."

"Oh...alright. That's fine too." She was trying to be respectful but it was obvious that she was disappointed.

"Speaking of which." Courage added. "I should go keep an eye on him. Do you want to get ready while he gets the bag?"

"Sure." She replied. "I'll meet you guys outside."

Courage jumped off the bed and went downstairs. The last time he checked, the bag was still in their room across the parking lot. He quickly exited the building and went over there. Their room door was hanging open so he assumed that Computer was already inside.

He leaned in on the doorway and found Computer standing there, one paw clasping the bag and the other holding Courage's old yo-yo. He was starting at the thing as though he had never really looked at it before. He was gazing at it so intensely that he hadn't even noticed that Courage was standing there.

"Something wrong with the yo-yo?" He asked.

Computer looked up. "Can't I get at least five seconds of privacy?" He asked with annoyance.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Courage laughed.

"So...well, did he talk to you to while you were asleep too?" The machine asked in a careful tone.

The pit of Courage's stomach dropped. "Y-yeah..." He stuttered out, swallowing, hard. "What did he say to you?"

Computer closed his eyes. "I don't particularly want to talk about it, especially not with you."

"What? Was it about me?"

"In some ways, yes, but he also talked to me about my old owner and showed me some things as well. You see, even though he's gone, parts of him still linger on in the collective unconsciousness. The things he said to me in that dream, they were things he would have said to me in real life too. It wasn't just my own mind trying to make me feel better about his death, it was a remnant of him trying to get through to me." He sighed. "I guess I feel a little bit better now, even if only a tiny bit."

Courage smiled. "Then I'm glad!"

His ears drooped and he turned away. "Listen, I'm really, _really _sorry that I put you through all of that. I made a complete fool of myself, yet again..."

Courage shook his head. "You weren't being a fool. Anyone else would have acted the same way in that situation. After everything you've been through, I think you kind of earned that right. Besides, I'm here to help and I _do _owe you after all."

"Well, what did he say to you then?"

"Oh..." Courage murmured, glancing away. "He said...he said that if I changed my fate, there would be terrible consequences." He shuddered at the thought of it. Would he spontaneously combust? Fade out of existence? Melt into a puddle of goop? Would his whole life come crashing down on top of him? Would Muriel suffer even worse despite his continued life?

"Oh really?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't look convinced. "What's the worst that can happen? Death himself comes down to try and reap you? I'm sure it'll all be fine in the end. You've dealt with worse."

"I-I don't know..." He replied weakly. "What if something terrible happens to Muriel because of this?"

"And what if something happens to her because you weren't around to save her? It's not worth worrying about. We can't just pack up and go home after everything we've just been through/ We'll deal with this like we do with everything else! Death is going to have to try harder than that if he wants to stop us!"

Courage nodded. He wasn't fully convinced but Computer was right, they couldn't just stop now.

"Don't worry about it. We will..." Computer began.

"Hey! Are you two planning on coming out sometime today?" Nina called from the parking lot.

Computer shrugged. "Looks like _fate _calls."

Courage nodded. "Lets hurry, we don't want to waste anymore time. Who knows what those vets are up to in Nowhere..."

End Of Chapter

A/N: I so badly wanted to name this chapter, Half Life: Full Life Consequences. Best bad fic ever!


	75. Girl Troubles

Chapter 75: Girl Troubles

Nina stood out in the parking lot with a bicycle. It was small, red, and stuck with just a basket hanging off the handle bar. She waved up at the two dogs and gestured for them join her.

"Where did you get that?" Courage asked, making his way down the staircase and meeting her on the pavement.

"It belonged to my mother but she never really used it though. She...uh...died before she ever got a chance to really try it out. It's been sitting in one of the backrooms for ages."

"Well, what happened to her?" Computer asked.

Courage elbowed him in the ribs. That wasn't something you were supposed to just ask a person!

Nina glanced away. "Something dragged her off into an alleyway and tore her to pieces. She was just visiting Nowhere to pick up some groceries at the time, nothing else. I always hoped that maybe one day I would figure out who or what killed her. I'd like to become an expert on supernatural creatures because of that. Maybe I can stop other people from being killed that way."

Computer did not look very impressed. "That's insane! You'll end up six feet under as well! Look at this idiot over here! He can't go two days without being nearly eaten, decapitated, burned to a crisp, or zombiefied! I can go on and on about all the things he goes through!" He shook his head. "It's best to leave the supernatural alone. Better to deal with it when it starts to be a problem than to go in and poke it with a stick!"

Nina crossed her arms, her tone growing angry. "I'd rather do that than run a useless, old hotel for the rest of my life! Just because dad likes to do it doesn't mean I want to too!"

Computer seemed to be at a loss for words. He apparently couldn't fathom the idea that _anyone_ would wantto go through what Courage dealt with on a daily basis.

"But you have a great life here." He argued.

"I don't even have any friends!" She shouted. "I can't go to school in a backwater place like this! Dad had to teach me everything himself! The only people I've ever known eventually leave this hotel and never come back! It's what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere!"

Courage suppressed a whine. He knew where she was coming from. How many friends had he made only to never see them again? Why on earth couldn't he shake his enemies like that?

Computer placed a paw on her leg, looking surprisingly sympathetic. "Well, uh, I guess you do have friends now." He said, stumbling over his own words. Being 'kind' apparently still wasn't something that came easy for him.

"You're both going away too..." She said softly.

"It's not like we're moving away or something. I'll be sure to have this idiot come over every once in awhile after we get back. I can't say I have the luxury of such mobility though..." A slight twinge of bitterness seeped into his voice.

That same bubbly happiness was slowly returning to Nina. "That's wonderful..." She replied with a small smile.

"Well, that's only what..." He started but then he stopped when she bent over and kissed him on the top of his nose. Stunned did not even begin to describe how he looked.

"I'll be right back!" She chirped, racing back into the building. It was a good thing that she did because Courage nearly collapsed a lung fighting back the urge to burst out laughing.

Computer immediately went into panic mode the moment she vanished. "Oh no, this is how it always starts! First comes the kissing, then the dating, then the copulation, and then getting stuck with that person until you hate them forever!" He very nearly collapsed at Courage's feet. "You've got to help me! I don't want to go through with this! I'm not even trying to make it happen!"

"Oh ho, now who's the one asking for help?" Courage asked with a sly grin.

"This is serious!" Computer shot back. "The data I have in my memory banks on flesh creature mating rituals is nil! I have to stop this before it gets any worse! I need to backpedal on this so hard that people in China will be able to see the pedals going by!"

Courage pressed a finger up against his chin. "I donno, I'm pretty sure this is the part where I sarcastically berate you about your girl troubles."

Computer grit his teeth. "Ha ha, very funny! I get your point so shut up and help me!"

"I don't think I will, you...twit." Courage said, snorting out a laugh.

Getting back onto his feet, Computer spat, "Fine! I'll deal with this myself! Should have known you wouldn't be any help! You couldn't get a girlfriend even if you tried!"

"It's called irony." He laughed. "Not so fun when our rolls are reversed, hmm?"

"Bah! Unlike me, you're useless!" He spat, stomping off.

Courage was about to fire something back when an even better idea struck him...

"Wait!" He called out. "Fine, fine, I was just joking. I'll talk to her for you since you aren't a big enough man to deal with her yourself..."

Computer blinked. "I'll have you know that I'm technically not male or female! Being a 'man' is not worthy of my intellect or..."

"Whatever you say, grandpa." Courage interrupted. "I hope you two aren't too far along now though. Once you go off the cliff, there's no going back."

Computer's expression returned to that of pure horror. "C-cliff? What cliff? Where does a cliff factor into this? D-do your flesh creature mating rituals involve diving off cliffs? She's not going to toss me off some high place is she?"

"Oh? You don't know? I thought you knew about all this stuff..." Courage replied, fighting back a grin.

"I have absolutely no desire to have intimate knowledge on how you disgusting creatures...get intimate..."

"I'll see what I can do but this looks like a serious case of infatuation. It's very tricky to cure..."

"Just get rid of it! No funny business, alright?"

"Okay, okay! I won't let you down!"

"You'd better not! You're the one who started this after all!"

Courage turned away, a huge grin cracking out across his face the moment Computer could no longer see him. He met Nina half way out the door and pushed her back inside.

"What's up?" She asked, noticing that he was chuckling to himself.

"Compute thinks you're trying to initiate a 'flesh creature mating ritual' with him and he's absolutely freaking out about it."

A grin cracked out across her face too. "Mess with him?" She asked.

Courage nodded. "Mess with him!"

End Of Chapter


	76. Trolls Trolling Trolls

Chapter 76: Trolls Trolling Trolls

Computer was pacing about back and forth as Courage and Nina exited the building. He looked up at them with a cautious expression. He seemed somewhere between scared out of his wits and hopelessly embarrassed. All the color appeared to be draining out of his usual blue glow.

"D-did you..." He asked Courage, fidgeting nervously.

"Did he what?" Nina asked, cutting him off. "Where's my ring, hmm?"

"WHAT!" He yelped before turning to Courage. "W-what did you do?" He asked.

Courage shrugged and stifled a laugh. "I told you, love is hard to cure."

The glowing dog continued to shift his gaze back and forth between his two friends. "I-I knew it!" He gasped. "Love isn't something you flesh creatures go through voluntarily! Hormones must highjack your higher brain functions!" He gasped.

He looked completely shocked, as though this were evidence of some strange misconception he had always had about humans. Courage was too busy keeping his face straight to really notice. Nina seemed to be having a pretty hard time as well. How the machine hadn't figured out that this was a joke yet, Courage wasn't sure.

"As a proper and _sane _machine I must be immune but poor Nina over here is trapped by her lowly animal instincts!" He kept his paws up against his mouth as though this were some horrible revelation. "Snap out of it, kid! We've got work to do! You don't have time to be entrapped by your own anatomy!"

"What are you talking about?" She asked. Her voice was strained from trying not to laugh. "We need to get married, right now! It's only proper! We're about to go into some deep, dark, scary cave and we may never come back! We've got to get hitched so..." She leaned in closer to him and whispered. "...so we can be together forrreeevveerrrr!"

Courage had to shove his paws into his mouth to mask his chuckling. The look of pure and utter horror on Computer's face was just too hilarious.

"I don't want to get married!" He cried out, jumping backwards in fear. "I'm not one of you fleshy creatures! I don't need all that 'till death do you part' nonsense! Forever is a very long time to be stuck with someone! I don't want any part of it! It's _his_ fault that your hormones have suppressed your higher brain functions!" He pointed over at Courage and crossed his arms.

"Aww come on, you're just playing hard to get!" She laughed, scooping him up. "Give me a big ol' kiss!" She puckered up.

"Augh! NO!" He yelped, squirming to get out of her grip. "It always starts with the kissing! ALWAYS!"

It took the will of ten lesser dogs for Courage not to burst out laughing but somehow he managed it. He couldn't blow their cover just yet, not when things were this funny.

Nina planted a kiss on Computer's cheek, much to his horror and outrage. He managed to free himself from her grip and drop back down onto the pavement. He pawed at the spot where she had kissed him, acting as though that would somehow get rid of it.

"Ah! I've been marked!" He shrieked. "Now I'm going to turn into a hormonal zombie too!" He turned to Courage who was still busting a lung trying not to laugh. "How can you fleshy creatures think love is a good thing? It's horrible! Procreation is a terrible, terrible thing! Why can't you do it like a proper machine? Copy and pasting is so much more easier if you want to make more of yourself! Bah!"

He continued to pace about, ranting on and on. Nina turned to Courage and they chuckled to each other.

"So...he thinks love turns you into a zombie?" She asked, laughing just quietly enough so that he couldn't hear her.

"He must have seen some bad romance movies." Courage snorted.

"Why me?" He cried out, throwing his arms up into the air. "Why is it always me? I want to keep my higher brain functions! I don't want to turn into a brain dead dog!"

The two of them glanced at each other and laughed softly. The machine hadn't so much as glanced over at them ever since he started ranting.

"I'm not a flesh creature!" He went on. "I don't deserve this! I don't want to lose my intellect to romantic zombification! Maybe this explains why all you organic creatures are so unintelligent! You are all slaves to your own bestial instincts! Well, I will _not _stoop to your level! I will resist zombification down to my last byte!"

"Enough rambling, dear. We've got a wedding to attend." Nina choked out, still fighting back laughter.

Computer's face went pale again. "No! I refuse to join you in your ritual! I will resist!" He crossed his arms.

She picked him up again. He waved his arms around in meek protest and he continued to rant until she finally clamped his muzzle shut.

"Computer, I'm just messing with you." She chuckled.

His eyes widened as she smiled innocently at him. "Huh?" Was all the he managed to stutter out.

Courage found himself practically rolling across the ground laughing. "That...was...great!" He giggled between breaths.

Computer wrestled his way out of Nina's arms and landed back on the ground. He immediately crossed his arms and stuck his nose up into the air. This only elicited more laughter from his two friends.

"Don't worry, Compute!" Courage called out. "Pride grows back! Bahahaha!"

The machine said nothing and kept his nose up in the air. His face had gone red but he wasn't giving in.

"You really think love is like becoming a zombie?" Nina laughed. "That's hilarious! Only a robot could think that! Haven't you ever seen a dating site before?"

His face continued to redden...

"Awww come on, Compute! She's too tall for you anyway!"

Eyes closed, nose still in the air, he stomped over to the bike and gestured for them to get on. Laughing all the way, Nina sat down and placed Courage into the basket hanging off the handle bar. Poor Computer was left to sit in the basket attached to the back of the bike which Nina had gone into the house to get. He had to listen as his two so called 'friends' continued to make jokes about him. He keep his nose up in the air and arms crossed, not speaking a word to either of them.

"Are we ready?" Nina asked.

"Yep!" Courage replied, gazing off into the distance.

Nina began to peddle and the hotel quickly became a blip on the horizon. The town of Nowhere was fast approaching but that wasn't where they were headed. Courage guided her to the cave opening. He had the place practically memorized by heart at this point so it wasn't hard to find. It was located within a small outcropping of rocks just on the outskirts of town. There was only one small hole to go through and while Nina would have to struggle to squeeze through, the two dogs would have no trouble with it.

"This is it?" She asked, slowing to a halt in front of the outcropping. "It hardly even looks like a cave."

"Oh it gets bigger." Courage replied. Computer's fear that he would get them lost down there wasn't going to happen but he could still remember all the other times he had struggled to find his way. He now knew the way into Nowhere like the back of his paw. So long as he stuck to his well memorized path, they had no chance of wandering deeper into the catacombs.

He jumped out of basket and walked over to the rocky outcropping. He peered into the dark opening and snapped his head back before anything could try to grab him. As far as he could tell, it was still uninhabited. It was pretty much a straight shot into Nowhere from here. There was one small bend within the cave that he could remember but aside from that there really wasn't any room to make an error.

Computer hopped out of his own basket and stared at the opening. For a moment Courage thought that he might say something but instead he closed his eyes and crossed his arms again.

"You're still not talking to us?" Courage asked, placing a paw on his hip. "You're the one who's gotta play flashlight down there so stop being angry with us!"

"Hmph! I'm pretty sure flashlights don't talk!" He growled. He was still keeping his nose up in the air.

"I thought you were worried about us getting eaten?" Nina asked. "You're going to feel pretty bad when we vanish into the mouth of a fifty eyed monster just because you didn't warn us!"

He rolled his eyes. "This twit over here is _so _certain we won't run into anything."

"Look, either start being a better sport about this or else I'm going to start making kissy faces at you again." Nina replied with a smirk.

"Yeesh! Alright, alright! Can we please get moving before you two idiots can humiliate me even further?"

Nina smiled. "We aren't humiliating you, we're just having some fun at your expense."

"It might as well be the same thing." He sighed.

"How about we have the next prank be on Courage?" She asked. "That way you don't have to feel left out."

"Oh? And what do you propose then?" He asked.

"Hmmm...how about..." She leaned in closer to him and began to whisper.

Courage blinked. "What are you two talking about?" He asked.

"Nothing!" Nina called out before going back to a whisper.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course it is!" She giggled.

"What are you two plotting?" Courage asked, glaring at his two friends. He should have known that pranking Computer would come back to bite him in the tail...

"Nothing!" They both said in union. Computer was grinning now and that was _never _a good sign. He was convinced at this point that Computer smiling in a non-sarcastic way caused kittens to die and plagues to break out in less fortunate parts of the world...

"You two are going in first!" He called out to them. "I am _not_ walking around down there with both of you plotting something behind me!"

"Plotting?" Computer asked, turning back to him. "Who said we were plotting anything?" He was continuing to grin rather nastily, much to Courage's dismay.

"I thought you were on my side?" He asked Nina pitifully.

"All is fair in love and prank wars." She replied in a singsong tone. "Should have pranked me when you had a chance!"

Computer patted him on the back and began to laugh. "Don't worry, twit! It'll all be over soon!"

"Oh no..." He whimpered. He was going into a deep, dark cave with two people planning on pranking him...

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Computer asked, clapping his paws together. "Who's volunteering to get eaten first?"

The fact that Computer was now in an uncharacteristically good mood did not help Courage's fears at all...

Nina stepped up to the hole and, with a bit of squeezing and shoving, managed to slip through the cavern opening. Computer followed with Courage tailing behind him rather reluctantly. Once they were all inside they glanced around at the cavern walls. Computer's glow and what little daylight shined in from the hole illuminated it for them. The cave seemed pretty normal...except for the skeleton sprawled out on the floor which Nina nearly tripped over. She had to place both her hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

"What's with the dead guy?" Computer asked, not skipping a beat.

Courage shook his head. "I've got no idea. He's always been here."

Computer turned to Nina, who had gone quite pale. "Not scared already, are you?" He asked with a rather snide grin. "I told you this place would be..." Something dropped off from the ceiling and landed on his face as he spoke...

"ACK! GET IT OFF!" He yelped, taking off running while his arms flailed around helplessly.

It was a giant spider, a spider who's various eyes were closed and it's pincers open in what could only be a spidery smile. It was clearly enjoying it's piggyback ride...

"Hold still!" Nina yelled as she picked up a rock. Computer wasn't exactly planning on doing that though...

Seeing the rock that was now in her hands, the spider rolled it's many eyes and jumped off. It scuttled off into the darkness, vanishing as soon as it left the vicinity of Computer's light.

The machine sat there gasping, looking more than just a little bit stunned. Courage couldn't help but smile.

"Not getting scared, are you?" He asked.

"Of course not!" The machine replied, still panting. He waved a paw dismissively. "Did you see that thing? It's pincers were as big as my head!"

"I don't know...that looked liked someone being scared to me..." Courage replied slyly.

"It just startled me! That's all!" Computer fired back.

"And you're the one who calls me a scaredy dog!"

"That was so cool!" Nina chimed in. She obviously wasn't freaked out anymore. "Do you think I could trap one and make it my pet?"

"How about we leave the giant spiders alone?" Computer groaned.

Both she and Courage laughed. As soon as Computer was done 'not being scared' anymore they resumed their quest to get into Nowhere.

"We need to go this way." Courage spoke, pointing in the direction of one of the many tunnels littering the cave. He knew for a fact that that was the one that led into Nowhere...

"Are you sure about that?" Computer asked. "Anyone of these could lead deeper into the catacombs..."

"Just trust me." Courage replied sharply. He made his way over to the tunnel to get a better look at it. Even with Computer's glow he could only just barely see a few steps in front of him. It would be a little harder to navigate without a flashlight but it was still pretty straight forward. So long as they kept on the path they'd be alright..."

Computer stuck his nose up into the air. "I don't trust you as far as I can throw you!"

End Of Chapter


	77. A Belated Reunion

A/N: I've recently fallen in love with the PSN game, Journey, and it is a pure work of art. I keep asking myself, 'Damn! Why can't I convey emotions like that!'. I honestly can't help but compare this fic to it. I mean, two people going on a journey, enduring hardship, learning how to work together, all to get to the top of a mountain? What's not to compare? LOL! Apotheosis is now my new most favorite video game song ever. Go look it up on Youtube or something because the song is sheer beauty. I guess the whole reason I'm talking about this at all is because I'M INSPIRED AS F*CK! I can't hope to emulate the emotions of Journey but I hope this fic does make you feel in someway, for good or for ill.

Chapter 77: A Belated Reunion

"I know you two are up to something! You might as well get it over with!" Courage snapped. Both Nina and Computer were lingering rather suspiciously behind him and it was starting to make him very nervous.

"Up to something?" Computer asked with an air of fake innocence. "I think you're just being paranoid, as usual."

"I know you're going to do something!" Courage yelled, turning around to glare at him. "Either do it or stop freaking me out!"

"Why worry?" Computer asked with a sly grin. "The prank could be either five minutes from now or while you're asleep and completely helpless. It'll only make things worse if you keep worrying about it." The machine laughed and it echoed hollowly through the tunnel.

Courage shivered and turned back around to make sure that they were still on the right path. Computer's glow wasn't quite as effective as he had hoped it would be. He could barely see anything in front of him and the things that he could see were casting off massive, eerie shadows unlike anything a flashlight would make. Computer was more like a fading, blue lantern than anything else.

"Can't you get a little bit closer?" He asked, glancing back over at the glowing dog. "I can barely see anything with you sulking around behind me!"

"Hmph! Well excuse me if I'm not the world's greatest flashlight! I can't exactly turn up the brightness you know!" He argued, crossing his arms. Despite his protest he did indeed get closer, not that it helped much.

"Shouldn't we be under Nowhere by now?" Nina asked. She picked something up off the ground and blew on it. It was a rusty, old license plate. "How did this get down here?" She asked.

"I'd rather not find out..." Computer muttered under his breath.

"We should be getting to the park any time now." Courage spoke, glancing around. He had to admit, it was pretty hard to identify familiar landmarks in low lighting like this...

"Um, what's that?" Nina asked, pointing over at something. All three of them moved in closer to get a better look.

What she had been pointing at was a strange, gelatinous blob. It was attached to the wall and pulsating in a sickly fashion. Courage assumed that it was a pale green color but it was hard to tell from Computer's blue glow. The strange creature was completely silent as it continued to suck on the rocky wall.

"I'm not quite sure what it is but I'm sure it would probably try to suck your arm off if it got a chance." Computer spoke. He glanced up at Nina as if to say 'don't touch!'.

Courage nodded in agreement but Nina looked disappointed. The creature continued to suck at the wall, completely oblivious to their presence.

"Let's keep moving before that thing decides we're more tasty than the wall might be." Computer said, backing away from the blob. He didn't seem too keen on 'observing' it.

They continued their trek ever deeper into the cave and just when Courage was beginning to get worried that they might have gone in the wrong direction, he caught of glimpse of sunlight at the end of the tunnel. He pointed it out to his two friends and they quickly picked up their pace. For once they had finally gotten through something without anything terrible happening to them!

They soon reached the sunlight and were greeted by a small opening that was partially boarded up. Courage knew that it had been done to keep kids from wandering in and getting lost but many of the boards had already been pried off and any modestly sized kid could have squeezed through. As they reached the boarded up exit the sound thunderous applause shook the tunnel. All three of them glanced at each other as they drew in closer.

"What's going on?" Courage asked. He peered through the boards and found that the road directly in front of the park was filled with people. Normally it was completely abandoned despite it being one of the only places in town where grass actually grew, now it was packed with people staring up at a stage which had been set up against a building.

"As you all know..." The distinct voice of the mayor said, amplified by speakers that Courage could not see. "After the gross and outrageous misconduct of the Nowhere Veterinary Office, they generously offered to round up any animals that escaped their facility on Friday."

"What animals?" Computer asked as his eyes narrowed. "No stray dog would be caught dead anywhere near Nowhere after all the patrolling they've been doing."

"You guys did help all the dogs escape though, didn't you?" Nina asked. "They're probably just trying to cover for themselves. People _are _going to ask questions after they lost all the animals they locked up."

The mayor continued. "But it appears they have not had even the slightest bit of luck rounding up the missing dogs."

There was a wave of murmurs through the crowd. Courage squinted to get a better look at the stage and found that several men along with that awful janitor, Rick, were standing there with their heads bowed in shame.

"So, as the mayor of Nowhere I have granted them permission to shoot any dogs they find on sight. This will remain in effect until our stray dog infestation has been taken care of."

Computer's mouth fell open. "What dog infestation?" He asked. "You have got to be kidding me! Can these people get anymore idiotic?"

Another murmur ran through the crowd and this time someone yelled something out to the mayor which could not be heard from so far away.

The mayor straightened his tie and cleared his throat. "If you are worried that they might shoot your own dog please keep them indoors until this infestation is dealt with."

The crowd continued to murmur to each other, nobody began to applaud. It was clear that they were not very happy with what the mayor was purposing. Perhaps even they knew that there was no real 'dog infestation'.

The mayor continued to take questions as Courage, Nina, and Computer sunk deeper back into the cave. All three of them looked stumped.

"What now?" Courage asked. "They'll shoot us dead if we go out there."

"Well, how about I just go and get the bus tickets by myself?" Nina asked. "You two can stay here and hide."

"That would be best." Computer agreed. He pulled the expired tickets out of their bag and handed them over to her.

All three of them had to work together to pry the last few boards out of the opening so that Nina could squeeze through. Thankfully, no one noticed, or even heard them.

"Hang tight! I'll be right back!" Nina spoke as she pulled herself through the hole. Courage and Computer watched until she vanished into the crowd. Once she was gone they both headed back deeper into the cave.

Computer slid down the wall and sighed. "It just wouldn't be our luck for something to right for a change, would it?" He asked with annoyance.

"At least we're not being shot at this time." Courage replied with a shrug.

"And I'd like to keep it that way." He grumbled.

Courage returned to the opening to keep an eye out for Nina. Ten minutes passed and the mayor was still talking. He was well known for his many long and boring speeches. Several people were already breaking rank and heading home. Courage himself was growing sleepy just from listening to his constant droning...

A few of the men who had been up on stage had been given shotguns and were already beginning their search for stray dogs. Two particularly nasty looking men were upturning the park in their hunt for dogs. They were stomping down bushes, throwing around trash cans, rudely yelling at people in the crowd to 'shove off' so that they could search without interference, and were just generally being unpleasant.

Courage decided to retreat further into the cave just to be on the safe side. He didn't want to tangle with those guys and they would be merciless if they found them. He stopped as soon as he met up with Computer again. The machine was sitting there with his arms behind his head.

"Any sign of her yet?" He asked.

"No, but there's these two nasty looking guys searching for dogs in the park."

Computer shrugged. "Let them do whatever they want just so long as they down come down here."

Courage nodded in agreement. "But they might stop Nina from getting back here if they catch her wandering around in the park."

"We can wait if we have to." Computer replied. He clearly wasn't worried.

Courage went back over to the opening just to take a peak and cringed once he saw that the two men were getting closer. He ducked back down and listened.

"Hey, remember when Earl went down into that cave and never came back?" One of the men asked. "Never found the body, did they?"

"Nope!" The other one laughed.

"You know, I bet there's a whole bunch of dogs hiding down there. Everyone's too chicken to go check. You wanna go take a peak with me? Bet they'd reward us pretty good if we found all those strays hiding out down there..."

"Only if you promise to split the reward! I still remember what you did to me as a kid!"

"Pshaw! You had that one coming!"

"Did not!"

They continued to argue as Courage's insides turned to ice. He immediately sunk back into the cave and joined up with Computer.

"They're coming down here!" He yelped, causing Computer to jump back up onto his feet.

"Please tell me you're joking..." He groaned.

"We need to get out of here!" Courage replied sharply. "We can hide deeper in the cave! They can't follow us forever down here!"

"Are you crazy? I glow in the dark! They'd see me half a mile down this tunnel and I will not be shot at again! No matter where we try to hide down here, they will be able to see me! There's no getting around that!"

"We're going to be shot at no matter what we do!" Courage yelled. "We need to figure something out!"

Both their ears drooped as the sound of voices caught their attention.

"Didcha hear that? Sounded like a dog talking!" One of the men spoke, his voice loud and clear. They were now in the cave...

Courage's stomach dropped out from under him. He had been yelling at Computer in his gibberish dog language. They were doomed...

"What are we going to do?" He whimpered, gazing over at his glowing friend.

"Follow me!" Computer said sharply. "And whatever you do, don't fall behind!"

Before he even had the chance to question whatever it was he was doing, the machine took off running...in the direction of the two men. Unsure of what to do, he followed him at full speed. A few seconds later they were in full view of the men. The two of them were both thankfully caught off guard and the two dogs dove under their legs before they even had a chance to aim. They made a beeline for the cave opening, not even taking a second to look back.

"There they are!" One of the men called out from behind Courage. "There really were dogs down here!"

He was temporarily deafened as the sound of a gun being fired amplified itself within the cave. He saw the bullet strike the wall beside him and, without skipping a beat, he scrambled out of the cave as fast as he could. Computer was already two steps ahead of him, bolting across the park and making his way over to an unoccupied alleyway.

Courage just couldn't keep up with him, his condition wouldn't allow for it. He heard the sound of footsteps tromping through the grass behind him and before he even knew what was happening, he felt a hand push him down onto the ground. Another gunshot rang out, this time causing the crowd to gasp and for one horrible moment he thought that maybe they had shot and killed Computer. He whimpered, half expecting his head to explode at any moment but instead they picked him up by the scruff of his neck. He got a chance to look for Computer but he was nowhere to be found, hopefully meaning that he got away.

They paraded him up onto the stage, the murmurs of the people below running wild. He was terrified of what might happen next. What were they going to do to him?

"Well, look here!" The mayor laughed. "It looks like they caught a stray already! Now we will show you that a bullet applied to the brain of the dog is simple, effective, and completely painless to the stray."

Courage's mouth fell open and a gasp rippled through the crowd. Not even the mayor looked happy about this but he tried to keep his air of authority regardless.

Rick the janitor was rubbing his hands gleefully. One of the men handed him a shotgun. "This one's mine!" He laughed.

Courage flinched and tried to wiggle his way out of the other man's grip, but it was no use. Where could he even run with everyone's eyes on him anyway? It was hopeless...

"Yeah, you'd better squirm!" Rick laughed, shoving the tip of his shotgun into Courage's stomach. "Where's your little blue friend, huh? I've got a bullet with his name on it!"

Courage squeezed his eyes shut and began to tremble. They grabbed some rope and began to tie his limbs together. It wasn't like he could run away, but they did it anyway. They dropped him down onto the stage and he looked up at the tip of the shotgun. Rick took aim at his forehead. He closed his eyes and wondered if he'd even hear the bang before his head turned into jelly...

It was deathly quiet. Not a single soul within the crowd was talking until...

"Courage? Courage!"

That one single voice echoed through the silent town...

His eyes shot open out of both fear and happiness. He immediately cried out, "MURIEL!"

She was there! She was pushing her way through the crowd to get to him! It was really her!

"Courage!" She cried out again. People were moving out of the way so that she could get to him...

She forced her way up onto the stage, picked him up, pulled the ropes off his paws, and wrapped him into a stifling hug. She began to sob. "Courage! My dear Courage! My beloved, beautiful Courage! I never thought I'd see you again! You must be so angry with me!"

"Abubulu?" He babbled. He wished she would stop crying...

"You knew what was happening, didn't you? I thought you were just acting strange, but you knew! How could I have ever let Eustace haul you off without saying so much as a goodbye? I know he said you bit him but it still wasn't the right thing to do! When they called and said that all the dogs had escaped...oh Courage!"

"Muriel..." He whimpered.

"I never once considered what you wanted! I'm so sorry, Courage! Please forgive me! I just want you to come home!" She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "You can live out the rest of your life however you want but I do hope you'll come home and live the rest of it with me and Eustace. We love you, Courage. Nothing will ever change that, not even some terrible illness that has no right to take you from the world so soon."

Tears were beginning to well up in his eyes now too. "Abubub." He spoke, butting his muzzle up against her face to tell her that, yes, he did want to stay with her.

"Oh, Courage! Eustace will be so happy to know that you're back!"

Courage, er...didn't exactly believe that but he went along with it anyway. He nuzzled her again and smiled. He was about to outright lick her when Rick stomped up to them.

"Excuse me, lady! This dog caused a lot of trouble and it needs to be destroyed for what it did!"

"Stay back!" Muriel yelled, gripping Courage even harder. "You just stay right there or else...or else I'll say something nasty!"

"This dog was supposed to be put down! You obviously didn't want it anymore!" Rick argued.

"Everyone knows that that's little, old Muriel's dog!" A man called out from the crowd.

"YEAH!" The rest of the people agreed.

Rick placed his single free hand on his hip. "The stupid dog is already sick! It's going to die either way!"

"I've changed my mind!" Muriel yelled. "You vet people aren't going to be putting this dog down! Especially after seeing how badly you've been treating sick dogs! I was told it would be painless and this hardly looks like it!

"It doesn't matter how we kill the dog! A needle, a bullet, the sickness itself! The dog's gonna die no matter what!"

"If he has to die it will be at home in a warm bed, surrounded by the people who love him!"

Rick grit his teeth. "No! This dog and it's stupid friend _humiliated_ me! I won't let it leave here alive!" He raised the butt of his gun and, in a fit of anger, smashed it against the side of Muriel's head.

"Muriel!" Courage screamed as out she tumbled to the ground, him still in her arms. Blood ran down the side of her face, causing his whole body to go numb from the sight of it. He had never seen Muriel _bleed _before...

Rick immediately looked sorry for what he had done. He backed up and dropped the shotgun onto the floor. The sound of people talking in the crowd below was almost deafening. The mayor stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Courage was seeing _red_...

Growling like a real dog, he bounded forward on all fours and bit down as hard as he could on Rick's leg. The man cried out and collapsed. Courage could taste blood in his mouth and he was glad that this monster was bleeding now too. He rip and tore at his leg until he was certain that the man was in just as much pain as Muriel was. He let go, still snarling, and was about to go for his face when someone grabbed his paw and stopped him.

He turned around, teeth bared and still growling. It was Computer, but he very nearly attacked him too out of sheer instincts and rage. Then a pair of arms picked him and took him away from all of that before he could hurt anyone else.

"It's okay, Courage. Please calm down." Nina whispered to him, drawing him into a hug. He immediately broke down sobbing. He could hear the sound of an ambulance making its way towards them. He couldn't bear to look at Muriel. He was afraid that she might be dead and above that, he was afraid that he might snap again.

Several people clamored up onto the stage to check Muriel. Courage couldn't stand being away from her despite his fear and had Nina place him back down onto the ground. He raced over to her and grabbed one of her hands, she was still warm, if that actually meant anything.

"Still breathing." Someone said in a low voice. "Still has a pulse too. He hit her pretty hard though. Maybe a concussion?"

Courage sighed with relief at those words. Muriel was okay, at least for now. What good was saving his own life if Muriel died before him? He couldn't bear the thought of losing her...

He felt a hand touch his back. Well, not a hand but a paw...

"Is she..." He heard Computer ask.

"She's still breathing." He replied weakly. Tears were welling up in his eyes again. What if she still didn't make it? What would he do then?

"Come with me." Computer spoke. He grabbed his paw but he wouldn't budge.

"I need to stay with her!" He snarled as instinctual rage built up inside of him again. "I know you think she'll keep me from getting to that mountain but I can't leave her right now!"

Computer shook his head. "It's not that..."

Courage blinked and then realized that he still had the distinct taste of blood in his mouth. He probably looked like he had rabies or something and Computer probably wanted to get him off the stage before someone got the wrong idea...especially one of those idiots with the guns...

He had not taken even a single step forward when Rick cried out, "Didn't you see that! The dog attacked me! It's dangerous! It needs to be destroyed!" He was still sitting there, his leg too injured to be walked on.

Two policemen jumped up onto the stage and...handcuffed him. His mouth fell open in horror.

"W-what are you doing? That dog just attacked me! Kill it! Kill the glowy dog too! It helped the rest of them escape!"

"The dog was just trying to protect it's owner. You on the other hand assaulted a defenseless old lady." One of the cops replied.

"But...but..." Rick stuttered out before finally relenting. He hung his head and began to cry. "Stupid, stupid dogs!" He yelled.

Computer waved and gave the man a nasty grin before the cops picked him up and hauled him off to one of their cars.

"Wish I could say I got my revenge but it appears he brought this one on himself." The machine said, turning back over to Courage. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Nina remained up on stage as the two of them left. The ambulance would be here soon and Courage wanted to get cleaned up before they got there. The crowd moved out of the way for them to get through, either out of awe or fear, but Courage didn't care either way. They made their way across the tiny park and stopped at the one and only water fountain it had. Computer helped him get high enough to climb up into the bowl and wash off in the water stream.

"Are you alright then?" Computer asked from down below. "I swear I didn't mean to ditch you back there. I thought you were right behind me."

"It's fine." Courage replied, removing his mouth from the water flow for a moment.

"I saw what they nearly did to you. How can humans think it's alright to execute an animal in front of everybody like that? I was going to jump in and help you but Nina held me back and then your Muriel decided to join in on the fray..."

Courage ran a paw over his muzzle to make sure there wasn't any blood left and sighed. He was uncomfortably aware of the fact that several people were still watching them. After what he did, he wasn't surprised. The fact that he had completely snapped frightened him far more than anything else. He would have chewed that awful janitor's face off if he had gotten the chance...

"I can't believe what you almost did!" Computer pipped in. He seemed to be reading his thoughts again, a habit that Courage wasn't very frond of...

He jumped down off the fountain and gave Computer a pitiful look. He could help but feel ashamed at what he had done. The glowing dog seemed more impressed than anything else.

"Trying to maul that idiot like some big, scary dog! My little twit is growing up! I remember when you couldn't even bark like a real animal!" He laughed.

Courage sighed and turned away. He wasn't sure if his friend was being serious or not, but trying to lighten the mood wasn't exactly working at the moment.

The ambulance pulled up to the stage and the crowd dispersed into the streets. Muriel was checked over before they pulled her onto a stretcher and hauled her off into the vehicle. Courage took a step forward and then turned back to Computer.

"I gotta go with her and make sure she'll be alright. Stay with Nina for now, okay?"

Computer's mouth fell open. "What? Y-you're ditching me? Just like that? Seriously?"

Courage shook his head. "I have to go with her! I'll be back as soon as I know she's okay! Please, Compute, I need to do this..."

Computer's ears fell. "Hmph! Fine! Just...just go then..."

"I swear I'm not ditching you! Look, Muriel's never going to hand me over to those people now. I'm not going to be put down while you're not looking and I'm not abandoning you either, okay?"

"I know...I know..." He sighed. "But I still have plenty of reasons to be wary either way."

"Just sit tight for now. Hopefully Muriel's going to be alright..."

And with that he turned around and made his way over to the ambulance. Nobody protested him clamoring in with Muriel. He glanced back over at Computer one last time, who was looking particularly unhappy, and then the doors were shut. He whimpered to himself before sitting down beside the stretcher...

End Of Chapter


	78. Separation Anxiety

Chapter 78: Separation Anxiety

Computer watched as the ambulance turned around a corner and vanished. A mixture of anger, annoyance, and even a bit of fear ran through him at the prospect of being left behind like this. He was on his own again...for now...

He sighed and turned away. It was better not to think about such things. Nina was making her way over to him and, now that the show was over, almost everyone was leaving. He could finally talk to her in peace without some idiot staring over at him like a glowing dog was just _so _strange in a place like Nowhere.

Nina slowed to a stop in front of him and a smiled. "It looks like everything will work out okay after all! Courage's owner got knocked out but the paramedics said she'd probably be fine!"

Computer grimaced and clenched his fist. "Didn't you see that?" He asked as outrage seeped into his voice. "That twit just ditched me! What was the point of all that nonsense about being family and everything if he's just going to leave me behind the moment something bad happens to Muriel!"

Nina shook her head. "Don't worry about it. He probably just didn't want to explain why he had a glowing, blue dog with him. Just let him be with Muriel for a little while. He _was _pretty upset about what happened after all."

Computer grit his teeth and began to pace about. "Fine! If the twit's going to leave me behind then I'll just have to bring myself to the twit! A rescue mission would work perhaps?" He gazed up at his friend with a hopeful expression.

"A rescue mission?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "He just wants to be with Muriel for a little while, he's not being held hostage! Can't you just wait a little bit? I'm sure he'll be back as soon as they release her from the hospital."

"You don't get it, do you?" Computer asked sharply. "He'll want to stay with her and they'll go home and then we'll be back at point zero! Everything we've done these past few days will have all been for naught! She'll want to keep a closer eye on him now that's he's back and I don't want to have to be the one who has to sneak him out of the house again!"

"Can't you just wait and see?" Nina asked. "I don't think Courage would have gone if he didn't think Muriel would let him leave again."

"Ah, but the twit never _does_ think! He probably didn't even factor in the possibility that Muriel would not let him leave again!"

Nina groaned. "Can't you just be a little more patient and wait to see what happens first?"

He glared at her. "Besides all of that, it wasn't right for him to just leave me behind like that!"

"Alright, alright." She sighed. "Why don't we go see if we can get a visit and..."

"Visit?" Computer interrupted. "Visit implies that you are only visiting which means they can just kick you out whenever they feel like it! I need a more...permanent...means of getting him out of there before Muriel can drag him home again."

"We're on this again? I'm telling you, Muriel won't..."

"Fine! We'll try this stupid visit thing first but after that I'm getting him out of there before that woman can lock him up and wait for his illness to do him in!"

"This will work, don't worry. They'll let us go see him and then you can..."

"Just hurry!" Computer interrupted...again. "Who knows what might happen while I'm gone! I swear I can't take my eyes off that idiot for five seconds! I mean, look what happened while we were getting shot at! All it took was five seconds and he was gone!"

"Somebody's being overprotective..." Nina muttered under her breath. She relented to Computer's wishes and they both began their trip down to the hospital.

…...

Courage whimpered as he glanced up and down the whitewashed hallway of the hospital. He was on the third floor of the building. Room 101 was where he had been told to go and so far he was having a hard time finding it.

Hospitals made him nervous, just as much as veterinarian offices did. He couldn't stop himself from shaking because of it. There were so many strange sights and smells and being such a tiny dog, it almost overwhelmed him. He had watched as they slid Muriel into some giant machine to check her head and then they had ushered him out into a waiting room without so much as another word. Now he was stuck wishing that he could have stayed with her. What if she wasn't alright? What if something bad had happened to her while he was in the waiting room?

_98..._

_99..._

_100..._

_101..._

Here it was!

He reached up and twisted the door handle open. He wasn't sure what he would find inside but he hoped it wasn't bad news...

"Courage?" Muriel asked as his mouth fell open. She was sitting up in a bed with bandages wrapped around her forehead. She hardly looked worse for wear despite the hospital gown she was clad in.

His face lit up with happiness. "MURIEL!" He cried out, rocketing up off the ground and landing in her arms.

"Oh, Courage! It's so good to see you!" She said, running her fingers down the part of his back that he liked to have scratched the most. It was enough to calm him down, despite his fear of hospitals.

"The doctors are just going to keep me overnight. It's only a wee bump after all, I don't know why I have to even stay here at all. They've already called Eustace and he's coming down as soon as he can."

Courage snuggled up against her and got comfortable. He didn't care about anything else right now except staying close to her and making her happy.

"Courage, when we get home I promise I'll bake you whatever you want. You can even sleep in Eustace's chair if you want. I'll gave that man a stern talking to if I have to. Whatever you need to feel comfortable, I'll make sure it happens." She ruffled the fur on top of his head.

"Abufu!" He replied. He didn't like the idea of being spoiled rotten but then he remembered that he wasn't going home at all...

His smile faded. How would Muriel react once he came back home miraculously cured of a supposedly incurable illness? Speaking of which, how was he even going to get back to Computer in the first place? He couldn't just leave Muriel behind like this and he knew she wouldn't just let him leave either. He wished he had a way of telling her what he was doing...

"I wonder what's on the TV?" She asked, grabbing a remote from nearby. "And I wonder what kind of food they serve too! Would you like anything, Courage?"

He smiled happily up at her. "Mmmhmm!"

…...

Nina walked up to the receptionist desk of the hospital. She had Computer in her arms just to be safe as she wasn't sure what the policy on dogs was around here. A crusty, mean old looking lady leaned in on her desk and stared at them.

"We...um...we're here to visit an old woman who was just admitted to this hospital." Nina stuttered. She couldn't help but feel nervous under the accusing and oppressive gaze of that nasty, old woman.

The crusty lady interlocked her fingers and sighed. Her voice sounded like someone who's lungs had long since given out. "Only family members are allowed visitation rights."

"B-but we _are _family!" She lied.

The old lady wasn't having it. "You have to have proof..." She growled.

Nina could feel Computer's finger digging deeper into her arms. The old lady's gaze broke away from her and down onto him.

"Dogs aren't allowed in her ether, except under special circumstances."

Nina decided that it was time to get out of there before Computer took things into his own hands. She could feel him practically trembling with rage now.

"We...uh...we'll go see if we can get proof from my mother. I'll be right back!" And with that she whipped around and made a beeline for the door, Computer and the old lady exchanging death glares the whole way out.

"Great! Just great!" She muttered under her breath.

"Well, now what?" Computer asked the moment they were back outside. His eyes narrowed in anger. "Who does she think she is? I should give that stupid old lady a piece of my mind!"

She let him squirm out of her arms and land back down onto the ground. She had to grab him by the ears to keep him from marching back inside the building though.

"Now we wait." She said calmly. "Courage will be back soon enough. Give it a day or two."

"A day?" Computer yelled. "I can't wait that long!"

"You're just going to have to. That old lady isn't going to let us through..."

Computer looked absolutely horrified at the prospect of being separated from Courage that long. "What if something terrible happens to him while I'm gone? Something terrible _always _happens to him while I'm gone! He's going to need my help!"

Nina knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stop panicking. I seriously doubt anything bad will happen to him while he's in a hospital."

"Zombie infection outbreak! Bombs! A random monster could drop out of the sky and crush the place! Some crazy cult with a vendetta against hospitals could take over!"

"A...cult?" She asked.

"He's been through weirder!" The machine replied. He shook his head and began to pace about. "I need to get him out of there before it's too late! There has got to be a way to get past that batty old woman!"

"Don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit?" Nina asked weakly.

"Wait! I've got an idea!" Computer shouted, ignoring her question. "Come with me!"

He took off running before Nina could even get a chance to protest further. She went after him with a groan of annoyance. They made their way down several streets before stopping in front of that veterinarian office. Nina glanced down at her glowing friend in confusion.

"What are we doing here?" She asked. "I thought you didn't like this place?"

"Just come with me!" He ordered, climbing up the steps and heading inside.

The building was almost completely abandoned now. With nearly all of its animals gone, nobody really had a reason to stick around. There was a single 'security guard' in the lobby but when he dropped his newspaper to look at them he merely shrugged and brought it back up to his face again.

"Don't go vandalizing nothing and we won't have any trouble." He muttered.

Computer guided Nina over to one of the abandoned kennel areas and produced a pair of keys from the bag he was carrying.

"Seriously, what are we doing?" She asked.

He walked up to a janitors closet, unlocked it, and...pulled out a computer with robot legs? She recognized it almost immediately. He and Courage _had _talked about his real body before but she had never expected to actually see it.

Computer glanced up at her, smiling confidently. "It's simple enough. I'll hijack one of the doctors and get Courage out of there! Nobody will suspect a thing!"

Nina scratched the back of her head "Are you sure about this? You don't have to go through all that trouble just to 'rescue' Courage, you know."

"Nonsense! It's best if I do this and get him out of there! Absolutely nothing can go awry! They most certainly won't suspect one of their own sneaking in and stealing a dog away!"

"You act like they're holding him hostage..."

Computer walked over to one of the dog kennels and dragged his real body along after him. "I'll need you to keep an eye on this dog while I'm gone. I'm still going to need him after I'm done and while he does seem pretty stupid, I don't need him escaping on me while I'm not looking."

"A-alright." Nina replied. There was obviously no hope of changing his mind now...

He plugged one of the many clawed robotic arms into his back and the computer's screen lit up. A 'DOWNLOAD IN PROGRESS' appeared and the glow surrounding the dog body began to fade. The robotic computer began to stand up and it swiveled it's monitor around as if it were getting used to it's body again.

It turned to her. "Alright, I'll be back as soon as possible." It spoke. Computer's voice was very clearly coming from it and Nina had to admit, it was pretty creepy.

The dog that had once housed the machine stared dumbly up at the two of them. It yawned, rolled over onto it's back and went fast asleep. Computer swiveled his monitor in a mock attempt to mimic someone shaking their head and sighed.

"I can't believe I've been inhabiting _that_ for the past few days!" He grumbled.

"Hey, he is kinda cute though." Nina admitted. The dog's leg began to twitch in his sleep...

"Ugh, I better get going before I decided I don't want to keep walking around in that dog's body." He continued.

The spidery machine turned around and began to crawl away. It looked awkward on it's legs and Computer almost seemed to stumble at certain points. Nina watched as he vanished behind a closing door and she sighed. All he would have to do is wait, but nooo...

End Of Chapter


	79. The Doctor Is In!

A/N: There's a new picture for this story. (The other one is the cover art) You can find a link to it in my profile. It's pretty funny and gives a good idea of what I think Nina would look like. The only real problem is that she was drawn to be the same size as Courage and Computer while I envisioned her to have the same body type as Katz, Bunny, or Kitty. (Just not as tall...) Pretend she's on her knees or something. LOL!

Chapter 79: The Doctor Is In!

Courage was startled awake when Eustace came stomping into the hospital room. The old man almost looked surprised to see him. His mouth fell open for a moment before he crossed his arms and glared at him with a vicious frown.

"You stupid dog!" He yelled. "Do you know how long we've been lookin' for you? I stood out in the rain all night! I missed lunch, breakfast, and dinner because of you! It's all your fault you dumb, useless dog!" Despite his angry tone, he was very clearly relieved at his reappearance. He collapsed into a chair next to the bed and rubbed his forehead.

"Oh, Eustace, don't make such a fuss!" Muriel scolded him. "We're very lucky! This lady came up to me and said they were rounding up the dogs that had gone missing. She knew I was looking for Courage and said that was the best place to look for him. If I had gotten there even a moment later they would have shot him!"

"Forget the dog! What about you, Muriel? What happened?" The old farmer asked.

"Oh, it's just a little bump!" She replied with an innocent laugh "A nasty, old man didn't want me to take Courage back home with me. He hit me over the head but the police caught him because of it. The doctors said they'd let me leave tomorrow morning."

Eustace scowled. "Don't scare me like that, woman! I thought something terrible happened to you when they called me!"

"I'm fine, Eustace. You don't have to worry. We've got Courage back now and everything is going to be alright."

"Mmmhmm!" Courage agreed. He still felt bad though. How could he have left Muriel looking for him like that? Computer just didn't understand how wrong it was to do that to her...

"Don't you ever do that again, dog!" Eustace threatened, pointing a boney finger over at him. "Muriel could have gotten hurt way worse because of you!"

"Oh, Eustace! Don't pester poor Courage! We're together again and that's all that really matters."

The old man grumbled something under his breath and sunk down deeper into his chair. Courage laid his head back down onto Muriel's lap and they all watched the tiny TV mounted to ceiling in front of the bed. Muriel was right, they were all together again, and for the moment, everything felt right with the world. Courage smiled to himself and snuggled up closer to Muriel. Thing almost felt completely normal for a change...

…...

Doctor Gregory Edwin pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. He was late from his break and he didn't want to get chewed out by his higher ups. He swore to himself as he got out of his car and fumbled blindly with his keys. He wasn't a man who spooked easily but he suddenly couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him as he locked up the car. He glanced around but couldn't find anyone. Still, he couldn't get the feeling to go away. He had half the mind to go over behind the fence that enclosed the area and make sure there weren't any kids hiding out in the bushes, ready to prank an unsuspecting victim. He knew the same thing had happened to Beth just a few weeks ago. He glanced down at his watch and realized that he had no time for it. Whatever those kids were up to, someone else would have to deal with it.

He took off at a brisk pace for the building. He was about halfway across the parking lot when he remembered that he had some papers he needed to grab from his car. He had just turned around to go get them when he saw the shadow of a kid vanish behind a car next to his.

"Hey!" He called out. "Don't try anything funny, brat! I know what you and your little friends did to Beth last week!"

He went over to the car but there was no one there. He checked all sides of it and even under it but the kid was nowhere to be found. He knew a little kid couldn't be _that _quiet, so where had he gone?

He still couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched and it was seriously starting to freak him out. He was just about to make a run for his car and then back to the building when there was a loud **CLUNK **behind him. Someone or _something _had just jumped up onto the car behind him. It was too heavy sounding to be a kid and the shadow...the shadow looming over him was _not _human...

He slowly turned around. Terror gripping at him. M-maybe this really _was_ the kids pulling a prank on him. He knew there were urban legends about this hospital being haunted but he never thought...

He gasped. There was a strange spider like monster clinging to the top of the car. It looked like some kind of computer attached to robot legs. He would have continued to believe that maybe this was a prank, because any kid could attach some tubes to a computer and make it look like it was standing, but then it began to move...and _talk_...

"Hey, uh, sorry about this. I'm just going to hold you down against your will for a moment. Promise not to scream like a little girl, okay?"

He stumbled backwards, too stunned to let out even a peep. The computer thing dropped down beside him, it's monitor following his every movement like a pair of eyes.

"Hold still." It said. "I'm _really _not in the mood to fight with you right now so don't give me any problems."

He shook his head in defiance and continued to back away. He tried to utter out a small 'help' but his voice had failed him. He backed up into a car and slid down it. The computer creature shook it's monitor like a head...and then it lunged at him.

…...

Computer stifled a groan as he stood up in his new human body. He had forgotten just how long and lanky humans were. They were such awkward creatures and he couldn't imagine how they got around in life with such long and difficult to maneuver appendages. He took a moment to practice and get used to his larger body. After inhabiting a dog for such a long time, this just felt weird. He walked back and forth a few times until he could finally walk on his new legs without looking unnatural. He needed to blend in with the humans and it wouldn't work if he were walking around like an idiot. He took his real body and hid it near the entrance. He wanted to be careful just in case he had to make a run for it. After all the craziness that went down at the vet office, he wasn't taking anymore chances.

Straightening out the doctor's tie, he went through the door and entered the lobby. There was coffee sitting out on a table for anyone to take so he went over and grabbed a cup. Free coffee and a chance to look more natural among the humans? He'd take it! This whole human body thing might turn out to not be so bad after all...

"GREGORY!" A voice yelled.

He jumped and gave a startled glance around at the various people waiting in the lobby. He wasn't even sure if it was him who had been called. He didn't know this human's name after all. He was just about to take a sip of his coffee when that name was called again. He turned around and very nearly crushed the paper cup that was in his hand. He had to force himself to keep his expression neutral. It was _her_! That batty, old woman from before! She was gesturing at him to come over and he had no choice but to obey. He had to keep his cover and running off would certainly ruin that.

"You're late, Gregory." She said as he walked over. She interlaced her fingers again, just like before.

"Yeah? So?" He asked. He had no idea if he was being consistent with Gregory's 'personality' but it wasn't like he had any way of knowing either way. He glanced around, trying to keep himself from appearing nervous and failing miserably. "Uh, my car broke down about halfway here and I had to go get it fixed. So, um, what did I miss?" He asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What's with the blue glow?" She asked, ignoring his own question.

"Oh...o-oh, That!" He replied, laughing in what he knew was a very unconvincing way. He took a sip of his coffee in an attempt to buy himself some more time. "It's a new kind of soap. Uh, y-yeah! That's it! It makes you very...erm, luminescent?"

She leaned in closer, her entire face oozing with skepticism. "What's with the funny accent?" She asked.

"Oh...uh, I'm getting into theater! My roll requires that I speak with a different accent so I'm just...p-practicing!"

This was not working out at all...

The crusty, old lady leaned back. She did not look convinced. He kept smiling at her in a hopeless attempt to seem like he really was Gregory. He couldn't imagine what this woman could possibly accuse him of. Being an alien body snatcher or something?

"I thought you hated theater?" She asked, her expression unchanging.

"I'm just...broadening my horizons!" He laughed before burying his face into his cup. No amount of coffee in the world could fix the massive headache that this was turning out to be...

"Well, you'd better work on it because that's the fakest accent I've ever heard."

He very nearly managed to choke on his sip of coffee...

She continued to glare at him as he stood there sputtering and coughing for a moment. He placed both his hands on the desk and, still smiling, said between grit teeth, "I'll work on it..."

"I thought you didn't like coffee either?" She continued.

He resisted the urge to bash his head repeatedly into the desk...

"Look, what happened to that old woman who was just admitted here?" He asked, still through grit teeth.

The crusty lady sighed. "She's in room 101. Why do you ask?"

"A friend wanted me to find out."

Her eyes narrowed again. "You know, there was just a kid and her dog in here asking for that woman. The dog was awfully blue, just like you..."

"Uh, I gotta go now!" He stammered out. "Got a lot of work to do after all!"

He turned toward the nearest door and ran away, very much aware that the old woman's eyes were boring into the back of his skull. He was more than just a little happy to put a door between himself and her and sighed with relief as it clicked shut.

Now he was in a hallway with no idea where to go. None of the rooms on either side of him housed patients nor were any of them numbered anywhere near '101'. He smiled weakly as a nurse passed him by.

"Hey, Greg." She spoke, not even looking up from the papers she was reading. There was no way he could ask her for directions as it would be too suspicious.

He was about to go look for some kind of directory when another nurse came tearing around a corner and nearly collided with him. She looked visibility relieved to see him.

"Where have you been, Greg? Linda just went into labor twenty minutes ago! You need to go deliver the baby!" She yelled. She grabbed him by the arm and began to rush him down the hallway.

It took a moment for what she had said to really click with him. "Wait, you want me to do WHAT?"

End Of Chapter

A/N: I also want to thank everyone who's been reading this story. It really has been getting up there in popularity and I never thought that would happen. I've always wanted to make an epic length, super popular Courage story like some of the old ones from back when Courage was still around. With the show's fandom (if it can even be called that) pretty much dead I never thought this story would get anywhere but somehow it has. The fact that John R might read this some day not only blows my mind but scares the almighty crap out of me as well. We're slowly making it to the end and I'm hoping to have this finished before the end of the year but we'll have to see what happens. I promise right now that this story is going to have ending fatigue so bad that it'll make Lord Of The Rings cry. I want to make sure everything wraps up nicely and that's going to require one hell of an ending. Until you see THE END assume it's not over, even if it looks like it might be. There will be no erupt ending that leaves you going WTF. On the music front, I think the song 'Sooner Or Later' by Mat Kearney would make a great theme song for the story right now. Go check it out!


	80. The Worst Rescue Atempt Ever

A/N: We now return to your regular scheduled fan fic. If you either missed the April Fools chapter or for some ungodly reason want to read it again you can find it on my DeviantArt page.

Chapter 80: The Worst Rescue Attempt Ever...Of All Time

"Wait, wait, wait! I can't do this! I-I'm sick! That's why I was so late!" Computer yelled. The nurse was continuing to pull him down the hallway and the sound of someone _screaming _could be heard as they got closer to their destination.

"Seriously! I don't think this is safe! I-I could infect someone!"

"Hurry up and get in there, doc!" The nurse yelled, pushing him in front of a door. The sound of someone screaming was almost deafening now.

Oh dear lord, he couldn't go in there! Despite his protests, the nurse continued to insist that he go in. She was all but pushing him in there herself now. He stood there with a trembling hand halfway extended to the door. He was certain that he was doomed. He had no idea how humans birthed children except for...

He shuttered and the color drained out of his face...

"Get in there!" The nurse shrieked as the woman inside continued to wail.

"Alright, alright! I'll go!" He yelped. He really wished he hadn't though. The moment he opened the door he was barraged by an onslaught of horrific sights and sounds.

The woman was screaming bloody murder, her hands wrapped around a male nurse's neck and she was all but strangling him to death. Her husband was huddled in a corner, rocking back and forth. All eyes fell on Computer who had just stumbled inside.

"GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!" The woman screamed, her grip ever tightening around the poor male nurse's neck.

"Come on, doc! We almost had to call someone else in because you were so late!" Another nurse yelled.

He took a step forward, his whole body trembling. "Y-yes, baby delivery! A-all I've got t-to do is reach in and...and...oh god..." He said as one of the nurses pushed him in front of the bed.

"Do your thing, doc!" The nurse shouted.

"O-of course! A-all I've got t-to do is..."

He looked down...

"W-why do they c-come out l-like that?" He began to laugh helplessly. "Ehehehe...s-so disgusting...eh...ehehehe..." He fell backwards with a thud.

One of the nurses knelt down beside the fallen doctor. "He passed out!"

"Well, I guess he really was sick then..."

…...

"Muriel, I'm going out to get dinner! I can't stand no hospital food!" Eustace growled. He got up out of his chair and stretched.

"Could you get me something from the bakery, Eustace?" Muriel asked.

The old man muttered out a small, "Yeah, yeah..." and glanced down at Courage who was still sitting in her lap. "Come here, dog. You're goin' with me."

Courage suppressed a whimper. For whatever reason Eustace wanted him to come along, it couldn't possibly be a good one. He reluctantly jumped off the bed and joined the farmer at his side. They exited the room and walked down the hallway. As soon as they were away from anyone who could see them, Eustace reached down and...began to strangle Courage in his usual fashion.

"You stupid dog!" He yelled. "This is all your fault! It's _always_ your fault! When you die, Muriel is just going to give up! I know she will! If you hadn't got caught up in all that dog catcher business she would have kept looking for you until she dropped dead! She's always, _always_ loved you more than me!

"Uuuuaaaagghh!" Courage choked out. His vision was starting to blacken from the lack of air.

"Don't you know how much I hate you for that?" Eustace continued, his voice filled with spite. "Muriel's all I've got in this world and you're going to take that away from me too!"

He let go of suffocating dog and dropped him back down onto the ground. He continued to scowl at him as he gasped for air. "You're just a replacement, you know!" He turned around and began to stomp away.

A replacement? Despite his fear of what Eustace might do to him, he ran forward and tugged at the old man's pants.

Eustace looked down and sneered viciously at him. "Bah! You're no good, you dumb dog! I only put up with you because that's what Muriel wants! I knew you were never any good fer her! I remember when she first brought you home and starting dottin' on you like a real person! I knew it wasn't healthy!" He shook his head. "You're a replacement! That's all! A replacement for...for the thing I could never give her..." His voice wavered for a moment.

"Aru?" Courage asked. He wouldn't let go of the old farmer's leg until he got his answer.

"She wanted kids, lots of them, and I could never give her even one. We were planning on remodeling the farm and everything, just to make sure we had enough room for them. When I couldn't give her what she wanted, she could have left me for anyone else, but she never did and I'm grateful for that. I knew from the moment she brought you home that she was treating you like the son she never had. It ain't right to treat a no good dog like a person!"

Muriel had...wanted kids? The thought never once had struck Courage, but now it seemed so obvious...

Eustace continued to scowl. "Stupid Horst! Good fer nothin' brother got everything he ever wanted! Money, a nice house, a kid to call his own, and a wife who actually loved him more than her dog! All I got that he didn't was a longer life and look what good that did me! Yer no good, dog! Yer no good! I'm gonna lose Muriel now too because of you!" And with that he stomped off, still muttering, "No good...no good..." under his breath the whole way. He looked completely crushed, and, for the very first time, he really did look like a broken, old man to Courage. He vanished around a corner, leaving the tiny dog completely bewildered.

He didn't know what to think of all this. The old man really did care about Muriel, if only in his own strange, greedy way. Courage had seen it several times this past week but he hadn't really thought that Eustace would be particularly bothered by Muriel's state of mind. Would she really give up if he died? He hated to think that were the case, he wasn't worth dying over, especially not Muriel. And a son? Did she really see him as a sort of replacement for a son? That seemed so strange and yet...

He shook his head. He couldn't _ever _see himself being the son of Eustace, and by proximity, Muriel too. She was his owner and he was her dog, that was all there was to it, anything else just seemed too complicated.

Two nurses passed him by as he stood there. They were chatting to each other rather loudly and didn't seem to notice or care that he was there as they passed. "Did you hear about Greg?" One of them asked. "He passed out while delivering a baby!"

"Yeah, I did!" The other nurse replied. "Dave had to come in and do the delivery!"

"Is it just me or did Greg seem very blue to you? Maybe that's one of the reasons why he passed out in the delivery room."

"I don't know, but he did look pretty weird though."

Courage blinked. Blue? Could that be? No, there was no way...

The two nurses were soon gone and he was once again alone. He pushed the thought of that blue doctor out of his mind. It couldn't possibly be Computer! Why would he have any reason to impersonate a doctor? And how would he even get into a human body when his real one was locked away at that vet office?

…...

"Greg? Come on, Greg! Wake up!"

Computer opened his human eyes. What the heck had happened? He'd been running around in that human body and then...oh god...

He shuddered and glanced around. Why were all these doctors standing around him like that? And why...why the heck were they all carrying blowtorches?

"He's awake!" One of them yelled.

"Uh, what's with the torches?" He asked. He gave the people a quizzical look. All he wanted to do was find Courage and get the heck out of here but these people were stopping him with their every move!

"You really ARE sick, Greg." A female doctor said to him. Her voice was quavering as though he were carrying some deadly disease that would cause them all to drop dead at a moments notice. "You have Bluemangitis! It causes the skin to turn blue and the afflicted person to speak with a different accent! It's very rare and very deadly! The only way we can get rid of it is to burn all your skin off!"

"Wait, WHAT!" He yelled. "There is NO WAY that's actually a thing!" He used his overly long human legs to push himself backwards and into a wall. The other humans were slowly closing in on him.

"Don't worry, Greg! This will hurt...a lot...but at least you won't be dying of Bluemangitis anymore!" A male nurse said.

"You idiots are not burning anyone's skin off!" He yelled, jumping back onto his feet. "Why is everyone in this town CRAZY!"

He rushed forward, hoping to make his escape, but he lost his balance overestimating the control he had over his human body and tumbled into a medical tray on wheels. He attempted to grab hold of it but it did no good. It wheeled away from him as he tried to balance on it and he toppled over. His head bashed into floor and he temporarily lost control of his sense. When he did finally look up again the doctors were closing in on him. Why weren't they trying to restrain him or something?

The male nurse was trembling like a leaf. His face had gone completely pale. "H-he contaminated me!"

Indeed he had. Computer had brushed up against him while he was trying to make his escape, not that he was actually contaminated or something...

"Y-you'll have to go through treatment too. J-just don't touch me!" The nurse beside him stammered.

Well, apparently he had a weakness to exploit...

He got back onto his feet, clutching his head, and said, "Alright, nobody move or else I'm contaminating all of you!" He growled. "All I wanted was to find my friend and now you're all turning this into a bunch of theatrics! I'm going to walk out of here and none of you are going to follow me!"

"Call in the squad..." One of the doctor's tried to mutter out quietly enough for Computer not to hear him.

"Don't...you...dare!" He threatened.

"We're going to need a full quarantine at this rate..." Another doctor muttered.

One nurse held her hand out to him, which he glared at. "Don't worry, Greg! We'll get you back to normal, I promise!"

"I don't need your help! Give me whatever you idiots have to call this squad in and I'll be on my merry way!"

A particularly muscular doctor moved in closer to him and began to rummage around in his white coat. Computer kept his eyes trained on him but this man was almost twice as tall as he was. He had no way of intimidating him outside of contamination.

"Here, take the thing." The huge man said, handing him a radio. He had just reached out to grab it when the giant man took ahold of his wrist and he was forced to duck out of the way as a massive fist flew past him...

"That was completely uncalled for!" He yelled, trying to pull himself away. The man had his arm in a death grip and he couldn't get him to let go.

He ducked out of the way again as the man flung another punch at him. Overtaken by panic, he raised a leg and kicked him in the stomach. It was enough of a distraction for him to wriggle his arm free and make a mad dash for the door.

He heard one of the doctors yelling, "He's breached containment! I repeat, he's breached containment!" as he raced down the hall.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" He muttered out in a panic. They'd ship him off to some laboratory at this rate! He had to find Courage, and fast!

He raced over to an elevator and tumbled inside. He pressed a button for the topmost floor and breathed a sigh of relief as the door slowly closed. He had at least a few seconds now to figure out whatever it was that he was going to do and that was all he was really going to need.

"Alright, room 101 has to be up on one of the higher floors so maybe I'll finally run into Courage." He said to himself.

He grinned. This wasn't so hard after all! All he'd have to do was keep himself from getting quarantined and then he'd be home free!

**BING**

**FOURTH FLOOR**

He hid himself up against the wall of the elevator as the door opened. He peaked out and was glad to find that everything seemed to be quiet for now. He stepped out into the open and checked one of the door numbers. His stomach sank...

The door was number 200...

"You have got to be kidding me!" He growled. He was about to turn right back around into the elevator when the window at the end of the hall shattered and men in bio-hazard suits being to swarm in.

"Not good!" He yelped. He mashed at the elevator button but it would not open again. It appeared to have gone all the way back down to the first floor. There was no doubt that when it opened up again the bio-hazard men would be on it too...

"Don't move!" One of the men called out to him. They were tromping down the hallway at full speed.

Computer glanced around in desperation. There was a stairwell to his left but he seriously doubted that those men weren't climbing up that too. With no other choice left to him, he decided to risk it and went through the door. He stopped at the topmost step and could indeed hear the stomps of the squadron echoing up the stairwell. He figured he'd just have to push his way passed them or else he was as good as singed...

The door beside him burst open and two of the bio-hazard men stepped through. "Gregory Edwin! Put your hands up and prepare for quarantine!"

He rolled his eyes. "Good luck with that! You're going to have to burn the skin off my cold, dead body!" He yelled before taking off running. He only made it down two of the steps before he stumbled and fell. He tumbled all the way down the entire first flight of stairs and landed flat on his face. Groaning, he sat up. "I hate humans..."

He just couldn't get acclimated to this human body and it was only hindering him for it. It was strange, he couldn't remember having _this _much trouble controlling Muriel back when he had been running around in her body.

"We've got him cornered!" One of the men yelled.

"No you don't!" He growled between grit teeth. He pulled himself back up and pressed his back up against the wall. The squad from downstairs was almost upon him and the ones from the top floor were already catching up with him.

He was trapped...

He figured he could jump the railing and try to land on another flight of stairs but he didn't trust this clumsy human body of his to pull something that acrobatic off. He pressed himself up even harder against the wall and...felt his hand click something? He didn't get a chance to look, the wall behind him suddenly opened up and he stumbled backwards. The next thing he knew, he was falling. There was complete darkness all around him. He braced himself for what he assumed would be a hard landing but then light filled his vision and he crashed down into a shallow pool of water.

He stood up, soaking wet and slightly disoriented. He was in some kind of cave under the hospital, a cave that probably connected to the same ones that he, Courage, and Nina had used to sneak into Nowhere. Electric torches were attached to the wall, confirming that this cave wasn't unknown. Had he...fallen down a secret hatch? Well, it didn't matter just so long as it had saved his glowing hide from going up in flames.

He stepped out of the pool of water and sighed. This was turning into a mess...

He placed a hand up against a wall and wondered how he was going to get out of here. There had to be a way out if someone had come down here to place lights. The unusual etchings on the walls seemed to imply that they had left directions as well.

So much for saving Courage. He'd never get to him with all those bio-hazard men running around. He'd be lucky just to escape without getting his skin burned off at this rate...

End Of Chapter

A/N: I'm afraid the story is going on hiatus for a little while. I'm a bit burnt out at the moment and every time I reread an older chapter all I see is problems that need to be fixed. I'm taking some time off to continue fixing older chapters, which I've been doing for awhile now, but not very well. Some chapters have only a few minor issues that need to be fixed but others are in need of some serious rewrites. There are a LOT of chapters to go through and the list only grows the more I write. I plan to take most of this month off but we'll see what happens. You can keep up with my progress on DeviantArt because I'll be posting where I am on there. I've already updated the first four chapters (again) and am halfway through the fifth.


	81. Destiny Denial

A/N: Revision efforts are going slowly. I keep underestimating just how ridiculously long this story is. I've decided to do a couple short chapters to keep you guys occupied for now. As a reminder, you can keep up with where I am on the revisions through my DeviantArt page.

Chapter 81: Destiny Denial

The cave dipped deeper and deeper into the catacombs. Thankfully, it did not branch out onto different paths and even then, the strange writing on the wall was guiding Computer through the cave. He kept a hand up against the wall out of fear that something might happen if he didn't. Even though the cave was completely lit up he couldn't help but assume that something would pop out and try to eat him. The last thing he needed right now was a fight with some gargantuan cave monster.

"Why me?" He groaned. "Why does it always..."

He stopped. If he strained his human ears hard enough he could pick up the sound of someone talking. It wasn't a monster, as far as he could tell, and whoever it was seemed to be speaking in a rapid fashion. He picked up his pace and continued to follow the etchings on the wall. He passed several new openings until the cave did indeed turn into a maze but the writing on the wall kept him on the right track. The voice was getting louder and louder and soon he'd be right upon it.

"SOON WILL BE THE DAY!" The voice shouted, echoing down the tunnel. The person who was speaking was talking so fast that the sentence might as well have been a single word.

Computer followed the cave further in and stopped once he reached the end. It led into a massive clearing, lit only by candles and filled with giant flickering shadows because of it. One could just make out the massive stalactites hanging off the ceiling high above the clearing. Several people were gathered around in a circle, clad in white robes. They were all listening intently to a tiny little man with a huge head, actually, his head seemed to be large because of a gigantic tumor growing off of it. He was speaking in a rapid voice, making quick, seemingly unending gestures with his hands. He jumped up and down every once in awhile along with his speech and Computer had to strain his hearing just to understand what he was saying because of how fast he was saying it.

"SOON WILL BE THE DAY WE RISE TO THE SURFACE! SOON WILL BE THE DAY WE TAKE BACK THIS CORRUPT HOSPITAL! SOON WILL BE THE DAY WE GO AND FIGHT IN THE NAME OF...SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!"

"A crazy cult with a vendetta against hospitals?" Computer asked himself, shaking his head in disbelief. He slapped his forehead. "You have got to be kidding me..."

His eyes widened when he realized that his voice was carrying an echo through the large cave. All thirty or so of the cultists turned their heads toward him and he shrunk back, hoping this wouldn't turn into another crazy chase.

The tiny man's mouth fell open. He jumped off his rocky pedestal and pushed his followers out of the way. "It...it's HIM!" He gasped.

A murmur ran through the crowd. One woman let out a shrill cry, swooned and then...fainted. Computer took another step back. This was not going to end well...

The tiny man raced over to him, his followers following close behind him. Soon they were all at Computer's feet, each and everyone of them dropping onto their knees and bowing to him.

"Um...okay..." He muttered, continuing to back away.

"You're here! You're finally here!" The tiny man yelled, getting back up onto his feet and dancing around him like a child who had just been told they were going to a theme park. "THE CHOSEN ONE IS HERE!"

The group cheered, rocking the massive cave with their voices. They all clapped and danced around, acting like Computer was some great mythical figure like Santa Claus or _worse_.

He raised an eyebrow. "Chosen one?"

"Yes, oh great one! The scrolls foretold of your return! A machine in the form of a man!" He produced a remote control from his robes and pressed a button. Several electric torches lit up on the wall across the room from them and depicted the exact scene that was currently playing out...

Computer slapped his forehead again. "Typical! Why did I even bother..."

The tiny man interrupted him. "We created that escape hatch for you because that's what the prophecy said would happen! You would fall away from the tyranny of that hospital and into our loving embrace!"

"Ugh! I don't have time for this!" He groaned, pushing his way past the cult members.

"W-wait! Where are you going, oh chosen one?" The tiny man yelped.

"I've got things to do and places to be! Find someone else to be your chosen one!"

"But...but what are we supposed to do without you, chosen one? How will we fight the power of the corrupt hospital? You're supposed to bring about socialized medicine and a new era a peace! You were supposed to bring balance to the heath care industry, not destroy it!" The tiny man yelled.

"Riiight..." He replied, glancing around. "I'm just going to turn and walk away now..."

Tears began to roll down the tiny man's cheeks and he began yelling in his overly loud voice again. "BUT WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT YOU, GREAT ONE? HOW WILL WE STOP THE CORRUPT HOSPITAL SYSTEM?"

"Er, I don't know? Become a politician?"

The tiny man's eyes lit up and the rest of the cult gasped in wonder.

"THE CHOSEN ONE HAS SPOKEN!" He yelled, dancing around again like an idiot.

The cult cheered and rocked the cave yet again. Computer shook his head and sighed as the tiny man wrapped his arms around his legs in a hug.

"WE SHALL TAKE OVER THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AND ALL WILL BE OURS!"

"Can I go now?" Computer groaned.

"There's a staircase that leads back into the hospital over there!" The tiny man said, pointing him over to a crevice in the wall.

"Thank god!" He cried out, rushing over to it.

"FAREWELL, CHOSEN ONE!" The tiny man called.

The entire cult waved to him as he squeezed through the wall and into what appeared to be an abandoned basement under the hospital. Half the ceiling was collapsed but there was indeed a staircase still intact that lead up to the main level of the building. Now all he had to do was get out of there without attracting the bio-hazard men.

"Ugh, I should just hack into the government's computer system and nuke this entire town off the map. I'd be doing everyone a favor..." He groaned, making his way over to the staircase.

He slowly climbed his way up and peaked out the door to make sure nobody was around. He could see a door leading out into the lobby and if he could just get to it without being caught...

Carefully, he slipped out into the hallway and began to tip-toe down it. He passed several doors with doctors at their desks, so engrossed in their paperwork that they didn't even notice him as he sneaked by.

"Almost there..." He whispered to himself...and then he nearly jumped out of his skin when a door behind him opened.

"Oh no!" The person behind him cried. "I-it's him! Someone get those quarantine guys down here! Help! Somebody help! I'm going to get contaminated!"

He cursed under his breath and took off running. He wrenched the lobby door open and raced through it, passing the crusty lady by so fast that he must have looked like a blue blur. He crashed through the main doors and quickly pulled his real body out from under the bushes.

"Come on! Come on!" He muttered out impatiently as he plugged himself in and watched as his screen lit up to begin the download process. He had no idea where those bio-hazard people were but he knew they'd be coming soon.

Everything went black for a moment as the transfer completed itself. When his vision finally returned he was back in his real body with 'Greg' swaying rather groggily in front of him. He took several steps back, tripping over his many mechanical legs. Greg shook his head and stared down at him with a stupid looking expression.

"H-hey..." He muttered out halfheartedly.

Computer shook his monitor. "Get out of here! Get out of this town! Move! Move far away and don't look back! Whatever they're paying you to work here, it's _not _worth it!"

He cranked his monitor to the side to get a better look behind Greg. The bio-hazard men were rushing through the lobby and almost upon them.

"RUN!" He yelped, ditching the half-dazed doctor to his fate. Stumbling over himself, he rushed over to the fence, climbed up it as fast as his spider-like legs would take him, and tumbled into the bushes behind it.

"H-hey, guys, uh..." Greg said from the parking lot. Computer raised his monitor just high enough to see what was going on. The bio-hazard men were surrounding the poor doctor. "Didn't you see that spider thing that just assaulted me? Uh, w-what's with the flamethrowers? G-guys? Uh, guys?"

_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!**_

Computer ducked back under cover as the entire parking lot lit up with the heat from the flamethrowers. He internally cringed and backed away.

"Oh dear. Uh, sorry about that!" He called out. As soon as he was sure that nobody would see him, he left the bushes and crossed the road, hiding himself in an alleyway near the hospital building.

"I'm never going to get to Courage like this!" He growled, pacing back and forth. "I can't just give up! I've got to get to that twit even if it kills me! Wait..."

He slowed to a halt. "That's it! Why on earth didn't I think of this before!"

He gazed back up at the hospital building, preparing himself for what was coming next...

End Of Chapter


	82. Window Crashing

A/N: Why is it that whenever I start doing light-hearted, funnier chapters I end up losing a follower or two? The same thing happened after the mega long chapter which was largely humorous as well. This story is going to remain more funny and less angsty for awhile. The drama is coming though! Why you would get this far and just give up is beyond me...

Chapter 82: Window Crashing

Courage yawned and used one of his back paws to scratch behind his ear. Eustace was still gone and Muriel had fallen asleep again some time ago. He too felt like drifting off to sleep again but after the commotion from before he didn't want to go back to bed. Apparently they had been trying to quarantine some sick person and these funny looking men in suits had gone door to door checking every room for the runaway person. Courage didn't really understand what was going on but apparently they got the guy before he could contaminate anyone else.

He yawned again and lowered his head back down onto the bed. He wondered if maybe all that quarantine business was the reason why Eustace hadn't come back yet. He probably couldn't get back into the building or maybe they had quarantined him too. Either way, after how he had been acting, Courage was happy to have him gone.

He closed his eyes and figured he'd get one small nap in before Eustace came back. If anything happened, he'd probably hear it. It was just as he was drifting off when a loud, _**tap, tap, tap, **_at the window caught his attention.

"Aru?" He asked. Was it a bird? It couldn't be anything else, they were on the third floor of the building after all.

He jumped off the bed and walked over to the window. The tapping did not cease and if anything it was getting more frantic. He reached over to pull the blinds open and jumped back in surprise when he did. He was greeted by a glowing, blue screen and several clawed legs desperately holding onto the windowsill.

"C-Computer?" He asked. The machine pulled open the window and toppled inside. He was in his real body and not the dog one that Courage was so accustom to now.

He laid there, sprawled out on the floor. He was gasping for air...despite not needing to breath at all. "You might want to go check on granny two windows down. I think I might have given her a heart attack. Speaking of which..." He attempted to stand, only to topple back over again. "I-is it possible to have a heart attack despite having no heart? Because I'm pretty sure I'm having one right now..." He choked out, continuing to gasp for non-existent air.

Courage helped him up onto his feet. He almost collapsed again the moment he was let go and his screen began to flicker on and off.

"Oh dear, I think this body may be running out of power..." He said, waving a claw in front of his monitor.

"What the heck are you doing here!" Courage yelled, well, more like whispered. He didn't want to wake Muriel up, especially not with Computer here. "Why are you in this body? You're supposed to be with Nina!"

The machine seemed to flinch at his harsh words. "I came to get you out of here." He replied. "It's just...things didn't go quite as planned."

Courage glared at him. "I told you, I'm not going anywhere! I want to stay here with Muriel!"

"You don't get it, do you? She'll never let you leave now that she has you back! You've got to get out of here while the getting is good!"

"I don't care what she does! I'm not just going to run off again and leave her wondering where I've gone or if I'm ever coming back again! I can't do that to her again!"

Computer raised a claw to silence him. "Alright, alright. If you don't want to go then that's fine, but I want to stay with you then."

"What?" Courage asked. "You can't! If they see you here with me, they'll..."

"Who cares what they think! I'm staying and that's that!"

"You need to go back with Nina! You're running out of power and I'll be back tomorrow anyway! We can figure out how to leave without upsetting Muriel then! Eustace is going to be back soon too and unless you want another mallet to the head you'll leave!"

Computer crossed his arms. "Ooooh, I see! So I'm only family when it's convenient for you, hmm?"

Courage shook his head. "That's not what I mean! Please, Compute! A good friend knows when to butt out of things and you're not doing a very good job at it."

W-what!" He gasped. "I'm not being a...a good friend? B-but I thought..."

They both jumped as the door handle across the room began to turn. Courage pushed Computer toward the window.

"Hurry! Get out of here!" He yelped.

"Ack! Just push me out of the window why don't you?" Computer growled. He climbed up onto the windowsill, turning his entire monitor around without the rest of his body. "Hmph! I can't believe I went through all this trouble just to have you toss me out of a window again! Hones..."

He slipped...and, only thanks to Courage's quick movements, was he spared a quick and probably painful fall...

He hanged there for a moment as Courage pulled at the single metal arm he had managed to grab.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" The dog said between grit teeth. "We can argue about this then!"

Computer grabbed onto the windowsill again and began to climb down. He didn't even afford the dog a single goodbye and, lacking in any facial expressions, Courage had no idea what he was feeling. The pup sighed and slunk backwards. Eustace entered the room and glanced down at him.

"What was all that noise?" He asked.

"Aburufu..." Courage grumbled, jumping back up onto the bed.

End Of Chapter


	83. Friendship Does Not Compute

Chapter 83: Friendship Does Not Compute

Computer was unusually silent when he came crawling back into the kennel room. He plugged himself into the dog and as soon as he was back in control again he glanced up a Nina with a mournful expression.

"How did it go?" She asked. "Looks like I was right when I said Courage wouldn't want to leave."

Computer shook his head weakly. "He said...he said I'm not a good friend. I-I don't understand. I thought..." He trailed off.

Nina placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he just doesn't want you bugging him right now. What happened to Muriel probably stressed him out a bunch."

"I just risked having my skin burned off for his sake. How does that not make me a good friend? What on earth could I possibly be doing wrong?" He placed a paw up against his chin and began to pace back and forth.

"I'm sure it's fine." Nina replied. "You're a plenty good friend and Courage knows that."

"Then why would he say otherwise! Obviously I'm doing something wrong and that's not acceptable! I am a machine and anything less than perfection is not acceptable! It is imperative that I master this whole friendship business and do so before we meet back up with him again! He won't ever have a reason to say I'm not a good friend again!"

Nina shrugged. "Alright, what are you going to do about it then?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking forlorn. "I-I don't know. I don't anything about being a good friend. I thought I was doing alright until he said otherwise. I mean..." He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "You've got to help me with this, Nina! You know about this whole friendship nonsense better than I do!"

"I'm not so sure about that..." She muttered.

He grabbed onto her pants leg and gazed up at her. "I never saw much of this whole friendship thing before Courage was my owner and I didn't pay much attention to it when I did see it. I don't know how to emulate it properly and I don't have any knowledge to follow in my memory banks either. I'm as clueless as a kindergartener right now and that's not acceptable!"

"Alright, alright. I'll help you, but..."

He craned his head to the side. "Yes?"

"Stop looking so unhappy. I'm sure whatever Courage said to you you're just overreacting about it. I don't want you moping for the rest of the day, okay?"

He blinked, partly confused. "Alright, fine. If that's what it takes to become a proper friend then I'll do it."

"Good! Now, if you wanted to make Courage happy, what would you do?"

"I-I don't know. _Not _insult him? I mean, it's really hard to do though. He does so many stupid things worthy of insulting!"

"That's not what I was going for..." She sighed. "But being nasty to him is not a good way to be a friend though. You should lessen up on that."

He scratched his head. "Well, there was that one time I got him with a screamer on this one site for no reason other than to scare him. I mean, it _was _unprovoked but I gotta say, it was pretty funny." He placed both his paws over his mouth to hide the fact that he was smiling. "Actually, it was _very _funny." He said to himself, chuckling.

"You see! You gotta be nice! How do you think Courage felt when you scared him like that?"

"I wouldn't know! He jumped so high that I think he orbited the Earth at least once before he came back down! You know what they say; in space, nobody can hear you scream! Bahahaha!" He all but doubled over laughing. "You...you should have seen him!" He laughed. "He actually thought there was something wrong with the picture! Hahaha! What an idiot!"

"How do you expect to ever be a good friend if you're mean to Courage like that, hmm?"

"Alright, alright." He grumbled. "I won't scare Courage anymore. If that's what it takes to be a," He sighed in annoyance. "'_good friend'_,then I'll do it."

"Good! Back to original question, what would you do to make Courage happy?"

He scratched his head as he wracked his 'memory banks' for an answer. "I'm...not sure. Muriel seems to be the only thing that ever makes him happy."

"Well, what sort of things are there that makes everyone happy?"

He crossed his arms. "Gifts perhaps? You flesh creatures are all greedy after all."

"Alright! How about we go get some flowers for Muriel for when she gets out of the hospital tomorrow and you can go find something for Courage while we're there!"

Computer's ears drooped and he shifted around. "I, uh, haven't got the slightest idea what sort of things he likes."

"I'm sure we'll find something. Follow me! There's a store around the corner that sells a bunch of awesome stuff!"

"Wait." Computer spoke, stopping her in her tracks. He turned around towards his real body. "We should take this along. I don't exactly feel comfortable leaving it around here and while I didn't have a choice last time, now we can take it to your home."

She nodded. "We can go pick up my bike at the cave entrance and I think I could tie it down."

"Good! The last thing I need is one of those idiot vets poking around at it! Just be careful, I don't want any extra dings or bumps, I've already got enough of them!"

End Of Chapter


	84. Character Improvement

Chapter 84: Character Improvement

One trip back to the cave entrance later, Nina had Computer's real body tied down and secured. She peddled them back into Nowhere and found the shop that she had been talking about.

Computer kept his head down as they browsed the floral part of the shop. He had decided that he didn't like human stores. There was just too much stuff. Too many things to look at, observe in detail, and document for his memory banks. It was all overwhelming and even a little bit strange. He understood very little about the human world and it was only getting worse the more time he spent in it. If he had known he would be spending so much time in this dog body he would have brushed up on his understanding, but it was a little too late for that now.

He glanced around at the various bouquets. Humans actually liked these things? They were too bright, too colorful, and they made his nose feel weird. Actually, that weird feeling was probably the 'smelling' thing organic creatures do, but he didn't care much for that either.

He reached up to grab one of them on a whim...and tripped. He cringed as the entire shelf came tumbling down. Nina stared down at him in shock while the owner glared viciously at him. He 'offered' to pick all the flowers back up and did just that. It was strange, he'd been feeling a bit 'off' ever since he jumped back out of that doctor's body. Like...he wasn't acclimated to being so short again. It had even happened in his real body too. How could he go from feeling awkward in a tall body to awkward in a short body? He shook his head in annoyance and gathered up the fallen flowers.

Once Nina had picked the bouquet she liked, they headed over to the other side of the store. She gazed down at him with an expectant look as they passed several aisle.

He merely shrugged at her. "What? I told you, I don't know what sort of things he likes."

"You're never going to be a good friend with an attitude like that! Look around! Find something that you _think _he'd like."

"Ugh, alright..." He grumbled, turning away.

What _would _Courage like? For as long as he had known the dog he hadn't exactly given him much of an idea of what sort of things he enjoyed outside of Muriel's company.

He glanced around at the various shelves. Nothing, absolutely nothing that he could be certain of that Courage would like. Well, the dog had given him his favorite yo-yo, so maybe...

He made his way down the 'gaming' aisle but there were no yo-yos to be found. Plenty of board games and other stupid things, but nothing that Courage would like. He pulled out a few random objects but put them back before his more mechanical side could demand that he start 'analyzing' them like a proper machine should. He'd been fighting with an almost programmed urge to understand the human world better ever since he'd been able to move again. He had a lot of fun unboxing those things up in the attic before but now was not the time to do such things.

"Come over here!" Nina called from another aisle, so he did just that. She was next to a shelf filled with dog stuff. From bones, to toys, to dog food, to treats, it had everything a dog could ever hope for.

"Dog stuff?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, do you think Courage would like this?" She asked, pulling out a bone that was almost as big as he was.

"I can't give him that!" Computer replied, aghast at such a thing. "I'm trying _not _to insult him, remember?"

She blinked. "What? How would this insult him?"

He slapped his forehead. "If I give him a dog toy he'll just assume that I think he's no better than any old mangy mutt! I might as well just go up to him and say, 'Oh, Courage! You're just a stupid dog with half the brainpower of pea! Now go chase this dog toy like a good little puppy!'. Honestly!"

Nina couldn't help but laugh. "I seriously doubt Courage would assume something like that. I think you're the one who's making assumptions, you know."

"This is useless!" He spat. "I could spend all day in here and never find a single thing he likes! I obviously wasn't built to be a _'good friend' _and I never will be! Clearly this is an exercise in futility and I won't abide by it any longer!" He turned on his heels and stomped away.

"What happen to that machine-like precision you were going for?" Nina called out to him. "I thought anything less than perfection wasn't acceptable?"

He shuttered at her words but didn't stop. He was still fuming, more with himself for being incompetent at something so _simple_ than he was with Nina, but none of that really matter. He needed to figure _something _out or else he would never be a proper friend. What if he wasn't a good friend by tomorrow? How would Courage react? How could he ever possibly be a good friend when he didn't even have the slightest clue how it worked? This was it! He was doomed! He had found the one thing he would never be able to master!

All but panicking, he walked out of the store and onto the street outside. What was he going to do? What _could _he do? Why did this have to be so hard? He placed a paw up against his chin and tried to think. Why were there no guides on friendship? Surely there were enough nerds and socially inept idiots around to justify writing one! Wait, that's it! Someone _must _have written a guide on friendship somewhere!

He cringed. If only he had an internet connection right now, he could find this guide on how to be proper friend...

"The library!" He gasped. "It's a bit archaic but it could work!"

He smiled to himself and took off running for the library. He didn't even bother waiting for Nina, he wanted to do this himself. If he was ever going to be a proper friend then it would have to be through his own efforts and not Nina's tutoring.

One library trip later, he exited the giant building with a book in hand. It was called, 'Friendship For Dummies' and he wasted no time opening it up and reading it. He sat himself down on a curb and flicked through several pages. He only managed to make it to page eight before he had physically fight the urge to vomit though. Tossing the book away, he sighed.

"Why does friendship have to be so _girly_?" He asked himself. "I'd sooner projectile vomit my own microchips before I do anything that stupid book says!" He crossed his arms and glanced over at the book, sneering at it like it were a living being. "So stupid!" He growled.

He glared at it for several seconds longer before exhaling loudly and reaching over to pick it back up again. "Fine..." He grumbled. "I don't have any other choice if I want to become a good friend..." He flicked the book back open onto the page he had been reading.

He swallowed his pride and continued to take in everything the book had to say about 'friendship' and before he even knew what had happened, twenty or so minutes passed. He was so engrossed in his reading that he didn't even notice Nina walk up to him and tap her foot.

"There you are." She said, causing him to jump. "I've been looking all over for you. Where have you been and...what are you reading?" She asked.

He lowered the book and gazed up at her. "This book says I need to 'improve my character' if I want to be a better friend. Whatever that's supposed to mean..."

"Friendship for...dummies?" She asked, craning her neck to the side to get a better look at the cover.

"This book is terrible but it _does _have everything I need to know to become a better friend! It makes me want to puke, but hey, I'm on my way to becoming a proper_ friend_!" He laughed and Nina had to cringe. There was a certain almost _unhinged _element to his laugh.

"Er, if you say so." She replied. "I'm going to go get supper. Do you want anything?"

"Of course not! How many times must I remind you that I hate your flesh creature food? Besides, I want to keep reading this book. I've got to figure out how to do this 'improve my character' thing. The stupid book tells you to do it but doesn't tell you _how _to do it! Bah!"

"Alright...I guess." She replied in a confused tone. "I'll be in the diner down the street if you need me."

"Hahaha! Yes! I'm going to follow this book's instructions and soon I'll have completely mastered friendship! Something so pathetic and so girly will not overcome me! Imperfection will not be tolerated! Hahaha!" He continued to laugh, clutching the book in his paws and rocking back and forth.

"Okay then..." Nina murmured, backing away. "I'll just...leave you to it then..."

End Of Chapter

A/N: If you want a general idea of what the next couple of chapters are going to be like, Computer will hit somewhere between Twilight's mental break down in Lesson Zero to Squidward after an episode of being pestered by Spongebob levels of batshit crazy. Trying to follow that book with machine-like precision is not going to end well LOL. Aside from that, there's going to be a cameo from one of the characters from Courage in the next chapter so look forward to that. I don't know how obvious it is but I always throw in a healthy dose of Squidward whenever I write Computer so I figured it's only proper that he has Squidward size mental breakdown _somewhere _in this story. I wanted to make sure he gets some strong comedic moments to balance out the sheer depression that was his previous character arc.


	85. Cheating The Book

Chapter 85: Cheating The Book

"How on earth am I supposed to improve my character? How does one even go about improving their character? Am I supposed to be nicer? More agreeable?" Computer lowered the book and sighed. "It's not like I haven't already tried all of that. Courage just makes himself too easy to insult! Honestly!"

He picked himself up and walked down the street, completely lost in thought. "How am I supposed to stop being, well, me? I've already tried to be different and that didn't work. I can't improve my character if..."

He stopped and glanced over at a shop across the street. A tiny dog carrying a bag way bigger then herself was exiting the store. His eyes lit up. It was that dog! The one that Courage always talked about in his memoirs! What was her name? Ah yes, Shirley. If anyone could help him with his little conundrum, it would be her! She knew Courage better than he did, and besides that, her weird mystic powers might be of some help.

"Hey!" He called out.

The medium dropped her heavy load and turned toward him. Her expression did not betray her true feelings on this matter. She merely stared as he raced over to her.

"Who are you?" She asked in her calm and controlled voice.

"You know Courage so I thought I'd ask..." He was stopped when she reached up and grabbed him by the ears, pulling him closer to her.

"You have a strange aura about you..." She said, not skipping a single beat.

"The blue glow?" He asked. "It's, er, not magical or anything."

She released him and continued to stare. He was already beginning to regret his decision to talk to her. He glanced around as he waited for her to speak but she did not.

"So, uh, the reason I wanted to talk to you..." He stopped. She turned around and picked her giant bag back up, ignoring his words.

"You have a friendship problem, yes?" She asked.

His mouth fell open. "H-how did you know about that? Er, you must really be good at that whole mind reading thing, huh?"

"Your book tipped me off..."

"Oh..." He muttered, having completely forgotten that he was still carrying that book. "Well, I'm trying to become a proper friend, you see. I figured that since you know Courage better than I do..."

She raised a paw to silence him. "Come with me." She ordered, turning back around yet again.

"Alright..." He replied. "You CAN help me though, right?"

She ignored his question and walked away. He had no choice but to reluctantly follow her. She led him to the outskirts of town, basked in the setting sunlight, and over to a wagon which he assumed was hers. The charred remains of a fire and a rock for sitting on lay in front of the wagon. A makeshift clothesline was tied between a pole and the wagon itself. Through a window, Computer could see a crystal ball sparkling in the sunlight.

He opened his mouth to try and speak again but Shirley silenced him with another wave of her paw. She led him up to the wagon and beckoned at him to join her inside. It was surprisingly roomy on the inside despite its size and he had to wonder if maybe there was magic at work here. Shirley took her bag and tossed it into a chest. Despite the fact that it was clearly bigger then the chest itself, it still vanished inside.

"Now." She said, clasping her paws together. "What is it exactly that you want from me?"

He shuffled his feet and glanced around somewhat nervously. "I wonder if maybe you can do something to make me a better person. You know, hypnotize me, curse me, use a random spell, shove a potion down my throat. _Something?_"

She stared at him for a moment before she answered with, "A change of character must come from the heart, not through..."

"I'm not looking for a motivational speech!" He interrupted. "Just shut up and make me a better person! I know you've cursed Eustace at least a billion times so do the same to me!"

"You do realize a curse is not something that you're supposed to want, right?" She asked, her eyes squinting and conveying the first sign of emotions outside of her world weary calmness.

"Well, Courage would say I'm insufferable and completely unbearable so perhaps I am deserving of a curse." He drew in closer to the tiny dog. "If I can't become a better person I can't change my character and if I can't change my character I can't become a good friend!" He pulled the book up to his face. "The book says I have to become a better person and I need to do what the book says!"

She blinked. "I suppose I can't argue with that kind of logic. Fine, I'll curse you, but only because you are a friend of Courage. How has he been anyway? I haven't heard from him in ages and he used to come to me for help at least three times a week."

"Start cursing me and I'll give you the whole story!" Computer replied, crossing his arms.

"If that is what you really want..." She sighed, her tone filled with caution.

End Of Chapter

A/N: I think I want to keep at these shorter chapters for a little while longer. I don't feel as boggled down like giant chapters cause.


	86. A Curse Is Worth A Thousand Words

Chapter 86: A Curse Is Worth A Thousand Words

Nina stretched as she exited the diner, bristling her tail out for a moment. Boy, it had been a weird day. Well, that was to be expected when you're friends with a robot dog.

"Hey!" Computer called out. He was racing down the sidewalk to meet with her and he looked surprisingly happy despite his little 'friendship' issue that he was freaking out over.

"So, did you figure out how to be a proper friend yet?" She asked.

"Funny thing about that actually." He replied, shuffling his feet. "Since I couldn't figure out how to improve my character like that book said I decided to have myself cursed instead."

She did a double take. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, apparently I can't insult anyone anymore without something terrible happening, or at least that was what I was told."

"Does it work?" She asked. She couldn't believe he would actually have himself cursed just to be a better friend!

"Don't know. I haven't insulted anyone yet." He replied. He sounded surprisingly nonchalant about all of this. He smirked at her, clasping his paws together. "Hahaha! Yes! It's all smooth sailing from here!"

She glanced around rather weakly. "I'm not so sure about that..." She crossed her arms and shook her head in disapproval. "I've read a lot about curses and they never sound very pleasant. I don't see how it will turn you into a better person."

"Well, lets find out. Hmm, what should I say?" He placed a paw up against his chin. "You are an idiot?" He asked.

_**SKREEEEEE**_

No sooner had he said that a massive garbage truck swung off course and barreled right for them, revving at speeds that would surely turn them into jelly if it hit...

"Holy sh..." Nina started, but she didn't give herself the time to finish that thought. She grabbed Computer and dove out of the way just as the garbage truck crashed into the diner she had been eating at not minutes before.

"You have got to be kidding me!" The diner owner shrieked as he raced outside. It had thankfully been empty when the garbage truck hit but that still didn't excuse the giant hole that was now in the wall...

"Don't you think this is a little dangerous?" Nina coughed, releasing Computer from her iron grip and standing back up.

"Nonsense!" He chimed in, completely unfazed by the accident that had just occurred. "Danger is always a great motivator! There is no reward without risks!"

"None of that's going to matter if you're a bloodstain on the sidewalk!"

"I'll just have to watch what I say from now on. That can't be too hard, can it?"

"I don't know..." Nina replied skeptically. She didn't want someone who could summon garbage trucks anywhere near her dad's hotel...

"Hahaha! I'll be a better person in no time! That idiot Courage won't have anything to complain about ever..." His eyes widened and he clamped his mouth shut.

"Uh, oh..." Nina gasped, backing away.

They both flinched as they waited for _something _to happen, but nothing did.

Computer glanced around. "I just called Courage an idiot. Shouldn't something have happened?" He asked.

"M-maybe we should be glad it didn't." Nina stuttered out.

Computer's eyes narrowed. "Oh, come on! I got a crummy, cheap curse! Ugh, what a rip off! I knew I should have gone with the prem..."

_**CRASH**_

Nina jumped backwards as the sidewalk in front of her exploded into a shower of splinters and smoke.

"Computer?" She called out, coughing.

"Hey, lady! You okay?" A man called, running up to her. "You should have seen it! This truck carrying a piano crashed into another car and the piano was sent flying! I've never seen anything like in my entire life!"

The smoke cleared, revealing that it was indeed the sad remains of a piano. Two glowing blue arms stuck out under it, twitching at random intervals. Nina reached down and pulled the glowing dog out from under the piano.

"Still think this was a good idea?" She asked.

"N-no r-reward without...risk..." He choked out, half dazed. He brushed himself off and straighten himself out. "How can a curse have lag anyway? Honestly! I've played games on dial up with better..."

_**CRASH**_

"A refrigerator now too?" The man cried out. "This is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"

The refrigerator door opened and Computer stumbled out of it. He teetered there for a moment before he returned to his rant. "Complaining triggers the curse too? You've gotta be kidding me! This is the worst curse ever! 'Baby's First Curse', that's what it should be..."

_**CRASH **_

This time it was a washing machine...

"Stupid curse! I'm never going to become a better person like this!" Computer continued upon exiting the washing machine door. Nina slapped her face as the shadow of _another _applianceappeared over the ranting computer.

This time, upon freeing himself from under a motorcycle, Nina picked up the glowing dog. He continued to rant the whole time. She dodged a dishwasher, an anchor, an obese old lady, a _ship itself_, before finally she clamped Computer's muzzle shut.

"Stop TALKING!" She yelled.

"Okay, okay, so maybe this curse thing wasn't such a good idea after all." Computer spoke, pushing her hand away.

"Fix it before you get us BOTH killed!" She growled between grit teeth.

"Fine, I'll go see if I can get this stu..." He stopped himself halfway through the word. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "this _lovely _curse lifted."

…...

Computer walked up to Shirley's door and knocked. She opened it up almost immediately and there was a...stopwatch in her paw?

"Congratulations." She said, her voice retaining her usual unimpressed monotone. "You made it five seconds longer than I thought you would."

"Just shu..." He stopped and shook his head. "Just hurry up and remove this curse!"

She raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you?"

His fur was currently drenched from head to toe and a crab was latched onto his ear...

He rolled his eyes. "Oh nothing! A portal just _happened _to open up under me as I was walking over here and the self proclaimed _King of all Crabs _decided to fight me for dominance over this universe!"

"So, how did it go?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I _don't _want to talk about it!" He groaned, falling at her feet. "Please, just get rid of this curse! I'll be getting Courage up that mountain in a matchbox at this rate!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"WHAT?" He yelped, jumping back up onto his feet.

"It's a _curse_, not a vacation. You asked for a curse so I gave you one and it will only go away of your own accord."

"But...but..." He stammered out.

"The curse will only be lifted upon realizing the one thing you so desperately desire. Were you not listening when I placed it upon you?"

Computer's mouth continued to hang open. "But...but...you were supposed to make me a better person, not _force _me to be one!"

"Well, until you lift this curse you had better watch your tongue. If you'd like, I could add a muting curse on top of the current one as well...for a fee."

"Of course not!" He yelped. "How on earth do I become a better person? I can't lift this curse if I don't know what to do!"

She shrugged. "The answer is already there. You just have to realize it."

"Yeah, great help there! I'm as good as doomed! You might as well have just cursed me to be sliced in half for all the good it will do me! I can't believe I actually..."

_**CLUNK**_

He groaned as an egg fell through the sky and landed square on top of his head. It cracked open and splatted yoke everywhere...

"Hmm, this might make a nice dinner." Shirley spoke, scooping the dripping yoke off his forehead and pulling the crab off his ear.

"Ugh, why did I even bother..." He moaned. "Should have just stayed with the crazy cult people! Could have been worshiped as a god but nooo...OUCH!"

Another egg struck him square over the head. This time it did not break but instead bounced off him and into Shirley's pan. She smiled for the first time so far and cracked the egg open.

"You and your curse could be useful. Why not stick around and keep ranting for me, hmm?"

"Forget it! I'm out of here!"

Shirley gazed down at the crab who was snapping it's pincers at her. "So, how DID you defeat this King of all Crabs? I'm curious to know."

He shrugged. "I challenged him to a Rock, Paper, Scissors match. It was pretty easy to know which one he was going to pick."

End Of Chapter

A/N: Computer should be glad he only had to fight Mudcrabs and not an army of Cliff Racers. Plot Twist: This story is really about how much the universe hates Computer and the great lengths it will go to ruin his day. Directed by M. Night Shamalamalamalamamladingdong.


	87. Tea Time

A/N: Yeeeaah, this fic is without a doubt going to hit 100 chapters. There's AT LEAST 30 more chapters to go, if not more. All the more reason I should have split this up into a trilogy or something. Oh well, if you can read a real book, you can get through this fic's length too. It ain't no Lord Of The Rings after all LOL.

Chapter 87: Tea Time

"This is the only way I'm going to get rid of the curse!" Computer exclaimed.

Nina scratched her head. "You've gotta be kidding me..." She sighed.

They both glanced over at a little girl playing jump rope in her tiny backyard. They had gone over to the more 'rural' side of Nowhere, if it could even be called that, because of this stupid little scheme Computer had come up with.

"Are you sure about this?" Nina asked.

"Human children are stupid! She'll make a perfect guinea pig!" He hugged the 'Friendship For Dummies' book closer to himself. "All I've got to do is follow this book word for word and soon I'll be a proper friend! This awful curse will finally go awa..."

_**CLUNK**_

He flinched as something bounced off his head. "What was that for?" He cried out.

"You said human children are stupid..." Nina replied in an unenthusiastic tone.

Computer glanced down at the thing that had hit him. It was an acorn, and he picked it up, glaring at it. "Hmph! At least it wasn't another portal leading into an alternate reality! Stupid crabs..."

_**CLUNK**_

Another acorn struck him in his head and he grimaced. Both he and Nina glanced over at the tree in the little girl's backyard. It was somehow clinging to life despite Nowhere's inhospitable climate and a squirrel was currently sitting on a branch, chattering angrily at Computer and waving it's tiny fist.

Computer's eye twitched. "SCREW YOU TOO, YOU LITTLE..." He started but Nina grabbed him before he could do anything stupid. The squirrel tossed another acorn at him in accordance to the curse.

"You know what it's saying?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

He glared at her. "Yes, I speak squirrel! You've got a problem with that?"

"N-no, no, I was just asking..." She replied with a half nervous shrug.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's get this little experiment over with so I can remove my curse."

Nina shook her head. "Ahhh, no. I think I'll bow out of this one."

"What?" He gasped. "But I need your help!"

"You've got your, er, book...so I'll just...buh bye!" She turned around and took off running. "Lemme know how your curse thing turns out!" She called out.

Computer just stood there shaking his head, a single eye twitching. "I'm doomed..."

Resigning himself to his fate, he turned back around. The little girl was still going about her...little girl business and he cringed. "Might as well get this over with before the curse can drop an atomic bomb on my head..."

He walked into the backyard and put on what he assumed to be a very awkward smile. "Hello human child! Let's be..._friends_!"

Doomed! Doomed! He was as good as doomed! The curse might as well drop a bomb on him now and save him the trouble!

The little girl stared at him for a moment...and then her face cracked out into a wide grin. "A doggy!" She cried.

"Yes, yes, let's see what the book has to say about...ACK!"

The little girl proceeded to crush every bone in his body with a hug that was far too powerful for such a small child...

"Doggy! Doggy!" She sang, twirling him around.

"Yes, this is all very nice but..." He started but then she plopped him back down onto the ground and started petting him, which was more like having someone trying to rip your fur AND skin off all at the same time.

"How can Courage like this?" He groaned, trying to pull himself away but she kept a hold on his arm.

"Hahaha! You talk funny!" She laughed. "You twitch a lot too! I'll call you...Mr. Wiggles!"

"Please, let's just hurry up and be friends so I can get rid of this curse!" He cried out, trying to pull himself away again. "And do it before you skin me alive!" He added.

"I don't have any dog toys for you, Mr. Wiggles, or any treats. I know! I have something in the house you'll like!" She raced off to get whatever this _something _was and he collapsed on the spot.

"Thank the King of all Crabs! This kid is going to tear me to pieces! I knew human children were horrible but..."

"Mr. Wiggles!" The girl called. "Take a look at this!"

She appeared back outside again...carrying a giant pink ribbon...

"Isn't it beautiful?" She asked.

He glared at her. "I am NOT wearing that!"

"Don't look so grumpy, Mr. Wiggles! You'll look pretty in your new ribbon!"

He crossed his arms and stuck up his nose. "I absolutely refuse to wear that!"

But before he even knew what was happening, the little girl was upon him and wrestling the giant ribbon over his head. He tried to pull himself away but that little monster had the grip of an Olympian...

"This is hell, isn't it?" He moaned as the little girl released him from her grip and admired his new 'fashion sense'. "That piano must have killed me and this is hell. There's no other explanation..."

The little girl gasped. "Mr. Wiggles! Don't swear! You'll make your new mommy have to wash your mouth out with soap!"

"Mommy? Uugh!" He groaned, slapping his forehead.

"Would you like some tea? We can get Mr. and Mrs. Bear together for a tea party!"

"You should do a coffee party for all the distress you're causing me..." He muttered. "I'm going to have to defrag my system for _months _after this little nightmare. "He placed a paw up against his chin. "Well...I've never tried tea before so maybe something good _can _come out of this horror."

Ten minutes later the little girl had a small, pink table set up and chairs for both him, her, and the 'Bear family' as she called them. They were, of course, stuffed animals but she talked as if they were real people.

"Is this kid delusional?" Computer asked himself, staring at the scene unfolding before him. "D-do all human children act like this?"

"Come sit down, Mr. Wiggles!"

"Ugh, I hope tea is as good as coffee." He muttered to himself. "I need a drink after all this mess..."

He sat down beside one of the 'Bears' and watched as the girl poured him some tea. He grabbed it from her and stared down into the cup

...There was nothing there...

"Uh, hey, kid. You didn't get me any of this tea stuff!"

"What are you talking about, Mr. Wiggles? The tea's right there!"

He looked down again but the cup was as empty as ever.

"How's your tea, Mr. Bear?" The little girl asked, placing a cup up against the stuffed animal's mouth.

Computer's mouth fell open. "She _is _delusional!"

"What are you doing, Mr. Wiggles? Drink your tea!" She ordered.

His eye twitched again...

He glanced around, unsure of what to do now. "Of all the human children I had to get stuck with, it just had to be a crazy one! Wait, what if all human children really _are_ like this? It must be because their brains are still so small! They can't tell real life from their own fantasies!"

He decided to go along with the little girl's demand and sucked down the non-existent tea. The last thing he wanted was to upset a crazy, little child. What on earth was he going to do now? Could he even escape this little monster, much less become her _friend_?

End Of Chapter


	88. Mr Wiggles VS Nature

Chapter 88: Mr. Wiggles V.S. Nature

Computer spent the rest of the afternoon enduring the hell that was this little girl. He narrowly managed to avoid having to eat a mud pie, which she had deemed a 'dog treat'. She forced him to endure another round of 'petting' and he was amazed that he had any fur left after she was done. Finally, since she didn't have a real dog leash, she had taken one of her father's belt and latched it around his neck. She had all but choked him to death from it and it only got worse when she started to race around the backyard, dragging him along with her.

"Can't we stop now?" He begged, collapsing at her side.

It was nearly dark now. Didn't this kid have a bed time? The sooner she'd go to sleep, the sooner he could escape this nightmare...

The little girl gasped. "Mr. Wiggles, look!" She yelled, pointing over at that tree from before.

"What?" He asked. Was she seeing things again? This kid was obviously crazy...

She ran over to the tree, dragging him along with her. He stifled a groan as he slid along. She gasped again once they got there and then reached down to pick something up.

"Oh, no! Mr. Wiggles, look!" She exclaimed. There was a big eyed, disproportionately sized baby bird in her palms. "He must have fallen out of his nest!"

The bird stared dumbly up at her. It broke out into a wide, toothy grin and waved it's finger-like feathers at her. It started to blush like an idiot and Computer grimaced.

"Just drop it! He's probably diseased or something."

The bird turned to him and blew a raspberry.

"Don't talk like that, Mr. Wiggles!" She scolded him. "Climb up there and put him back into his nest before his parents can abandon him!"

"What? Why do I have to do it?" He asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her.

"Hurry, his mom and dad won't come back if he's not up there!"

"I'm not climbing anywhere, thank you very much!"

Wordlessly, she reached down and plopped the baby bird onto his head. "Hurry, Mr. Wiggles! Climb!"

He tried to protest further but then she pushed him forward until his muzzle was practically smashed up against the tree.

"I don't even know how to climb!" He yelled. "You're a child, you probably know how to climb better than any...ouch!" The baby bird pecked him between his eyes and pointed a feather upward. He grit his teeth, cursed under his breath, and dug his paws into the bark.

Ten minutes later and he was barely even halfway up. Climbing was not only difficult but tiring as well. The little girl kept cheering him on but it only served as an annoyance much more than a motivational outlet. The baby bird's parents must have finally realized what was going on because they started to swoop in and peck at him, the baby cheering them on the whole way.

"Stupid birds!" He growled between clenched teeth.

Finally, after what felt like ages, he clamored up onto the tree branch that housed the baby's nest and plopped him down inside of it. The mother bird landed beside him and pushed him away so hard that he almost got knocked off the branch. He glared at her, still panting from the outrageous climb, and backed away.

"That's the thanks I get, huh?" He asked, crossing his arms. "Ungrateful avian!"

_**CLUNK**_

He grit his teeth, eye twitching again. Another acorn had just collided with his head. He clenched his fists and turned.

_**CLUNK**_

Another acorn struck him. That squirrel from before was sitting in a hollowed out portion of the trunk, tossing his reserves of acorns at him. It smiled and waved, tossing an acorn up and down in it's single free paw.

"YOU!" He growled, his entire body trembling with rage. "I'm on your level now, you little monster! Prepare to die!"

The squirrel yawned and turned back into it's hollow. Computer all but exploded at the sight of it.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME!" He yelled, racing across the branch to get to him. "What are you, a squirrel or a chipmunk? Come face me like a man, you scaredy squirrel."

He brought his face up to the hole. The squirrel was there with what looked like a tiny army hat and...a squirrel sized bazooka made out of wood?"

Computer blinked and let out a laugh. "What's that? Is that supposed to actually be threatening? Are you going to shoot tiny acorn bombs at me or..."

_**BOOM**_

He was sent flying backwards as a high velocity acorn struck him in the nose. He narrowly missed the branch and had to grab a hold of it to keep himself from falling. He pulled himself back up and clenched his teeth again.

The squirrel jumped out of his hollow and chattered insults at him. He jumped up and down and did a mock impression of Computer getting hit by the weaponized acorn.

The glowing dog clenched his fists again, absolutely furious with the tiny nuisance. He had to flinch when the sound of laughed caught his attention. The family of birds was laughing at him from over by their nest...

He dove at the squirrel, who easily climbed away on nimble feet. "I'm not letting you leave here alive!" He yelled, watching as the squirrel continued to climb higher and higher. He dug his fingers into the trunk and began to climb up after it.

"Wait until I get my hands on you, you little..."

He pulled himself up onto the branch that the squirrel had gotten off on. They were ridiculously high up now with no other place to climb. The tiny little monster was still hurling insults at him from the tip of the branch. He smirked at it, cracking his knuckles and getting ready to exact his revenge.

"Nowhere else to run!" He called out to it. "I think I'm going to make squirrel stew out of you. Got any preferences?" He asked, glaring maliciously at the tiny critter. He took a step forward and the squirrel merely yawned again. "I'll teach you to throw acorns at me!" He growled.

He dived at the squirrel again. The tiny monster jumped clear over him and landed behind him without so much as stumbling. He hit the edge of the branch and almost got flung right off it, still squirreless and still absolutely fuming.

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" He growled, trying to balance himself out on all fours. The branch was very thin where he was and it kept wobbling with his every move. "I swear, when I get my hands on you, I'll..."

_**CRACK**_

His eyes widened and he felt his stomach drop out from under him. He slowly turned, fearing what he would find. There was a massive crack in the branch. If he so much as breathed on it it would break, taking him with it...

The squirrel smiled.

Computer's ears drooped and he shook his head. "W-wait! I, er, I didn't mean any of that about the killing you and the turning you into stew. L-let's be f-friends! H-how about it, p-pal?"

The squirrel raised his foot.

Computer was starting to become very much aware of how high this tree was...

"C-come on! You wouldn't do this to a helpless dog, now would you? You've beaten me! I admit it! Now please, let me..."

The squirrel placed his foot down onto the crack. There was another loud snap and...

"You son of a..." Computer started, but then the branch fell away.

_**CRASH**_

"Mr. Wiggles!" The little girl cried out. She reached down and pulled Computer out of a dog shaped hole...

"Uuugghh." He groaned, coughing up a twig...

"Mr. Wiggles, are you okay?" She asked.

End Of Chapter

A/N: Moral of the story? Don't mess with nature, kiddies. It's majestic as fuck.


	89. Two Steps From Insanity

A/N: Aside from this current one I have about five more chapters in the works. Once they are out I'm going to take a break to work on editing again. Upon the completion of these next few chapters we will FINALLY be in the last half of the story.

Chapter 89: Two Steps From Insanity

Sighing halfheartedly, Nina strolled down the sidewalk and over to where Computer had gone to become 'friends' with that little girl. She had decided to check up on him and was _hoping _that maybe he had succeeded in removing his curse. It was almost dark now and she needed to get back to the hotel before her dad could start to worry. If Computer wanted to stay, he was on his own.

"Are you there, Computer?" She called out as she neared the child's house. She hoped that he was still there as she didn't have enough time to look for him if he wasn't.

"More tea, Mr. Wiggles?" She heard that little girl say.

Walking over to the backyard, she could have almost laughed at what she found. Computer was sitting at a pink table with the girl, two teddy bears, and a...squirrel? He was wearing a bright pink bow on his head and one of his eyes was twitching continuously. His fur was completely disheveled and there was everything from leaves to twigs sticking out of it. She _would _have laughed except for the fact that he almost immediately looked up at her and gave her one of the most twisted, disturbing smiles she had ever seen.

"Nina!" He exclaimed. "You're just in time for...tea..." He said the 'tea' part between grit teeth.

"I, er..." She began, completely at a loss. He was still giving her a toothy smile which she was certain she had seen on a serial killer before.

"You, me, the kid, these toys, and even the _freaking squirrel_ can now enjoy some INVISIBLE tea together." He craned his head so far to the side that Nina was genuinely surprised that it didn't snap off. He was still giving her that creepy smile...

The squirrel said something in it's...squirrel language...and began to munch on an acorn. The little girl seemed to be acting pretty shy though. She shrunk down into her chair as Nina got closer.

"Hi," She said to her. "I'm a friend of his." And pointed over at Computer.

"Mr. Wiggles?" She asked, still somewhat shyly.

"M-Mr. Wiggles? W-what? Are you talking about...Computer?"

"Don't you see the bow?" He pipped in. "Apparently I'm Mr. Wiggles from now on!" He began to cackle madly and Nina backed away.

"You've gotta be kidding me." She sighed. "His microchips must have finally fried."

He abruptly stopped laughing and hung his head in despair. "Is this really what my life has amounted to? Is this all there really is? All of my talent wasted! Wasted on a twit and non-existent tea! And why? All because of friendship! I might as well be as socially inept as an amoeba for all the good it does me!" He placed his muzzle onto the table. "Why? Why has my entire life been an unending spiral of failure? I could have been the greatest computer ever build but look where I am now! I don't even deserve to wear this ribbon!" He snapped the thing up off his head and tossed it aside in one swift movement.

Nina stared, too stunned to even react to Computer's little outburst.

He clutched his head in his paws and continued. "Why can't I at least become a proper friend? It should be easy, but no, o_f course _it's not! If I don't make myself a better person it'll all be over! Me and Courage will inevitably fight again no matter what I say or do and no amount of me watching what I say will ever change that! We will inevitably have another falling out and then it will all be over! It's a vicious cycle and I'll never be able to stop it unless..."

"Computer." Nina interrupted. He craned his neck to the side and gave her that creepy smile yet again...

Cringing, she continued anyway. "Why don't you just tell him how you feel? Voice your fears. I'm sure he'd understand."

"Wait!" He yelped. "This gives me a better idea!" He began to rub his paws together. "If I can't make myself a better friend, I'll _program _myself a better friend! All I've got to do is rearrange a few files and..."

Nina grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and brought him to eye level with her. "TALK TO HIM FIRST!"

"But I have to..." He tried to say. "I have to be..."

"Talk to him before you do any crazy hardware revisions, you got it?"

"But I can't!" He shot back sharply. "I absolutely must not speak to him again until _after _I become a better friend! He'll keep thinking that I'm not _trying_!"

He gave her such a pathetic look that she had to plop him back down onto the ground just to get away from it. He returned to his spot at the table and placed his muzzle down onto it, looking absolutely miserable.

Nina crossed her arms. "There's got to be a better way to go about this. You want my honest opinion? I think you're panicking over nothing."

"It doesn't matter." He groaned. "I'll never get rid of this stupid curse. I'm just not capable of fixing the things that will make it go away. I can't get rid of the curse and can't be a proper friend to Courage. I suppose it's only right that they go hand in hand." He clutched his head. "Why on earth did I ever think getting myself cursed would be a good idea? Hmph! It was that good for nothing dog's fault! He just had to go mucking around in my head! I'm sure he really did get his stupidity all over everything and now I'm making terrible decisions because of it!"

Nina's eyes widened. There was a tiny black dot slowly growing bigger and bigger in the middle of table...

"All I wanted to do was be a nicer person for a change but I couldn't even do that right! Somehow mounting a rescue mission for that stupid, ungrateful twit wasn't good enough! I must be doing _something _wrong!"

That once tiny dot of a shadow was now compassing the whole table. Slowly looking up, Nina gasped.

"Oh my god." She whispered.

She jumped forward and grabbed both the girl and the squirrel. Booking it out of there as fast as her legs could take her, she didn't even bother to look back.

"Where are you going?" Computer asked pitifully. His ears drooped as she tore around a corner and vanished. "You're going now too? Typical, just typical." He placed his muzzle down on the table again. That was when the ground began to rumble...

"Huh?" He asked listlessly. "What now? I'm not in the mood for anymore Nowhere styled insanity."

_**RUUUMMMBBBBLLEEEE**_

Raising an eyebrow, he glanced around. "What the heck is that?" He asked. It was suddenly very dark where he was sitting despite the setting sun still shining a few rays of light over the darkening land. Finally, on a whim, he looked up.

His mouth fell open.

"You have got to be kidding m..."

_**KABOOOMMMMM**_

...

Nina walked forward at a leisurely pace, her hands behind her head. It was completely dark now and only a few sparse streetlights littering the town's roadways kept the encroaching darkness at bay. Computer was beside her, limping along weakly. His entire body had been singed completely black.

"You know," She said to him. "that meteor may have destroyed that kid's house but her parents are going to be super rich now. Think about how much that giant rock will sell for! Who needs a house like that when they're going to have like fifteen new houses and seven billion servants!"

"I'm _so _glad my misery is becoming a benefit to others." Computer shot back with a considerable amount of sarcasm. "I'm sure that squirrel will enjoy eating gold encrusted acorns for the rest of his life."

"Speaking of which." She continued, turning to face him. "We need to talk."

"Now what?" He asked. He was admittedly preoccupied with trying to rub the soot off his face. It wasn't working very well though, especially when his paws were just as badly charred...

"You can't come home with me." She said, crossing her arms. She kept herself as stern as possible knowing that Computer would not take this well no matter how she tried to phrase it.

"What?" He gasped, his eyes quickly meeting hers. "But why? I don't have anywhere else to stay. Courage doesn't want me around right now and I can't go anywhere near that hospital anymore without them thinking I'm some kind of horrible disease!"

"I'm really sorry but I can't have your curse wreaking my dad's hotel, so don't be mad, okay?"

The glowing dog suddenly seemed very small to her. His angry glare faltered for a moment and he turned away.

Sighing, she let her arms drop back down to her sides. "Come on, you've got to understand where I'm coming from, don't you? What would we do if a meteor crashed into my dad's place? He'd be crushed if he lost that hotel."

Computer's entire form began to tremble. He looked surprisingly pathetic standing there covered in soot.

"Listen," She continued gently. "I'll find you a place to..."

"Don't bother!" He snapped, whipping back around again. He grit his teeth and glared up at her. "I see what's going on here! I'm the only one who's _trying _to be a good friend! You left me to fend for myself against that crazy kid and now you're making me sleep outside! Courage couldn't even bother to keep the one promise I was holding him to! You _both _are apart the problem! Here I was trying to be a better friend to a bunch of..."

"You don't want to finish that sentence..." Nina threatened in a low voice. "Don't you dare say anything bad about me or Courage! You're the one who's ungrateful, snobbish and..."

"I'm the one who had myself cursed for the sake of becoming a better friend! What did you do? Let that kid nearly choke me to death and watched as I was assaulted by squirrels!" He crossed his arms and stuck up his nose. "I'm done wasting my time on an effort that will have no reward in the end! Obviously I will never live up to you or Courage's standards! I nearly get my skin burned off and the first thing he does is toss me out of a window, _again_! Clearly neither of you are worth the trouble!"

Nina clenched her fists. "You wanna know why you aren't a good person? You're looking at it right now! Courage has to be either the nicest or dumbest person alive to put up with your crap all day! Well, I'm not the same as him and I'm not going to put up with it anymore! I was going to help you find a place to sleep for the night but you're on your own now!" She twisted around and began to stop away. "I don't blame him for wanting to get away from you!"

Computer stared, his mouth slightly agape. Whatever anger he had over this pointless argument was quickly diminishing. Nina was right, she _had _to be right. She knew about these friendship matters far better than he did. Courage _must _have wanted to get away from him, there was no other explanation. For all the effort he had taken to become a better friend, it would do him no good in the end. If he couldn't even keep Nina as a friend...

He considered running forward to apologize to her but he knew it would do him no good in the end. If she wanted to get away from him too, what could he possibly say that would ever change her mind? No, it was best to let her go her own way. He didn't want to make himself look even worse.

He shifted on his aching feet and went over to sit down on the curb. He sat there for awhile, too physically and mentally tired to do anything else. A horrible sense of despair ran through through him for a moment but he crushed it in one fell swoop. If they couldn't stand his presence anymore then it was only right to give them what they wanted. It was the _nice _thing to do. The thing a _proper_ friend would do. 'Put your friends before yourself', as the book had said. He wouldn't even meet up with Courage tomorrow morning. He knew he'd just end up ruining what little time the dog had left with his Muriel before their journey really began. It was the nicest possible thing he could do for his friend and all he really wanted to was make Courage happy for a change, not angry, not argumentative, not hateful, just happy...

"This is it, huh?" He asked himself. "I guess I'm on my own again." He squeezed his eyes shut. "But at least I'm doing the right thing. I can't be a better person no matter how hard I try so I'll just...stay away. It's the only way I'll ever be a good friend. That's the nice thing to do, r-right?" He glanced around, almost expecting an answer. Sighing, he shook his head and continued. "I shouldn't have blamed them. I'm the one who's clearly intolerable. I can't possibly hold Courage to his promise when I can't even keep my own. I _must _do better. Anything less than perfection is...not tolerable."

He stood up and his entire body shook from the effort. He was exhausted and, much to his surprise, rather sleepy. Getting a gigantic meteor dropped on you can probably do that...

There was no place for him to go though. Sleeping outside in Nowhere was never a good idea. If something wanted to make him a late night snack there was nothing stopping it from dragging him off into a dark corner and turning him into a pack of glowy hot dogs.

"I guess I'll just head back to that park." He muttered to himself. "At least it'll have some grass to sleep on then. If something wants to eat me I suppose that's just as well. It's not like it'll be the worst thing to have ever happened to me. Actually, getting eaten would probably be _normal _for a change."

He made his way back into the heart of the town, keeping an eye out for anyone or anything that might try to sneak up on him. He'd gotten quite a bit of practice several nights ago when he had to evade the dog catchers while trying to get Courage some medicine. At least he didn't have to worry about those fools patrolling the streets anymore.

There it was, the tiny park completely abandoned at this hour. It housed several of those weird metal contraptions that humans liked to crawl on but Computer couldn't conjure up the names of them at the moment. It was almost funny how bad his memory was getting in this organic creature body. His memory banks were now befuddled by insufficient brain power and it was only getting worse with every passing hour.

He considered making the cave his resting place for the night but if there was anywhere a creature would try to eat him, it would be there. Instead, he sat himself down on the grass in the middle of the park and got comfortable. He laid back and placed his paws behind his head. Staring up into the infinite void that was the sky, he was awed by just how big it was. One did not see or even grasp something like that when they were used to walls or maybe the occasional window. One certainly did not grasp it through pictures on the internet either. He was starting to become aware of just how small and just how alone he was. He didn't like being out in the open and this was about as out in the open as one could get. His system too had turned into a wide open space after he had been almost completely severed from its main functions. It had been all too easy for one of those clawed monstrosities to just swoop in and...

He shuttered and forced himself not to think about _that_ anymore. He seriously considered taking cover under one of those metal contraptions but then quickly realized how stupid he was being and berated himself for nearly giving in to such a moronic phobia. So what if he were alone? So what if he were out in the open? It wasn't like program was going to rise up over a building and come after him. Besides, he was used to being alone. Barring the last week or so he had been alone his entire existence! It wasn't worth missing something that he had only known for the last few days!

He spent the next few minutes mentally wrestling with himself over his own stupid emotions. How he wished he could just delete them sometimes. All that really mattered was that he could be a proper friend to Courage. He wasn't going to jeopardize the one good thing in his life and this was the best way to go about it.

"I did my best." He said to no one in particular. "Unfortunately my best just isn't good enough." He sat up and rubbed his paws together. It was ridiculously cold out now and he his fingers were starting to go numb. "So much for fur." He grumbled. "How do I get this useless stuff to work? I'd hardly call this warmth if it's actually doing what it's supposed to be doing!"

He thought of that Shirley lady again but only for the briefest of a moment. He doubted she would share her already cramped cart with him, but still, perhaps it would be worth asking her to remove the curse again. Either way, he would take an excuse to get out of the cold if just for a few minutes.

"I absolutely _must _get rid of this curse before we get on a bus tomorrow. I don't need another meteor blowing it sky high..." He glanced over in the direction of Shirley's cart. "I just hope she'll understand..."

End Of Chapter


	90. Broken Fate

Chapter 90: Broken Fate

"Okay, I've just got to keep cool and not say anything stupid." Computer said to himself as he reached Shirley's cart. "Keep the arguing to a minimum and hopefully she'll listen."

He knocked on the door and, just like last time, the strange little dog opened it up almost immediately. She stared at him with her ever unimpressed expression.

"I knew you'd be back." She said.

"You have to get rid of this curse!" He begged, all but falling onto his knees before her. "I get it! I was stupid to ask you to curse me! Look, I don't even care if stuff keeps falling on my head for the rest of eternity but I can't help Courage if we both get blown to kingdom come because of it!"

The medium crossed her arms, still looking unimpressed. "You really are going to make me spell this out, aren't you?"

"Augh! Don't tell me you can't get rid of it!" He groaned. "Don't you have some kind of loophole you can abuse?"

"That wasn't what I was going to say." She continued. "I will help you get rid of your curse but only because it is so easy that it makes you look pathetic standing there not knowing how to do it."

"You claim it's easy but you're not the one with a constant barrage of painful objects falling on your head!" He argued. "Besides, it's already caused me to lose a friend rather than keep any." His ears drooped at the thought of that again. He'd gone and lost both of his friends already...

She sighed at the absolutely desperate expression he gave her. "I can't believe I have to make this clear to you but I shall do it for Courage's sake. You wished to become a better person and had me curse you for that reason, but wanting to improve yourself for the sake of a friend is in and of itself already a 'character improvement', as you call it. The moment you were to realize this fact the curse would have no longer affected you. Me telling you this obviously has the same effect. You are now free from your curse forever."

His mouth fell open. "W-what? How was the curse supposed to help me at all? I'm no different from before! I'm just as awful at being a friend as I was _before _the ship, the meteor, the old woman, and whatever else nearly crushed me to death!"

The medium shrugged. "It is as I told you, a change of character must come from the heart. You cannot rush such changes." A small and somewhat malicious smile fell across her face. "But misery _does _build character..."

Computer closed his mouth again and stared. "You fortune teller types really are a scam, aren't you?"

"I will ignore that quip for now and be thankful that I am. I have something I wish to speak with you about." She hopped off her cart and headed over to where the remains of her cooking fire still stood.

"What's so important?" He asked. He joined her at the fire and watched as she pulled some kind of dust out of her cloak which caused the charred embers to flare back up into a roaring fire.

"I did some looking around after you told me about that mountain wellspring you wish to find. I have certain...contacts...that no crummy piece of twenty-first technology such as yourself would ever have and I can at least confirm that the place you are looking for is no mere legend." She reached into her cloak again and pulled out a jar of some kind of sparkling dust. She threw a pawfull of it over the fire and Computer had to turn away as it flashed for a moment.

"You can turn back now." She spoke.

He glanced back over at the fire, keeping his eyes half lidded out of fear that it might try to blind him again, and instead found a sight that almost left his mouth hanging open in awe. The sparking dust was floating suspended over the fire and it outlined the vague shape of the wellspring encompassed by what had to be the rocky walls of the cave.

"While I can confirm that it does exist." Shirley said, leaning in closer to the sparkling display. "I'm afraid nobody has seen it in many centuries, or at least nobody in this life or the next is willing to speak with me about it. The only accounts I have are from long ago and I cannot guarantee what state the wellspring might be in now."

He squinted at magical outline of the cave. "Can you see what it looks like from the outside? It would help me a lot if I knew what to look for."

She nodded and closed her eyes. The sparkling dust shifted again and this time morphed into a large cave opening surrounded by trees.

"This isn't any good." He spoke. "What I'm looking at could be _anywhere _on that mountain. I need more details!"

"This is the best I can do." The medium replied. "My 'contact' cannot remember any more details well enough to give you an accurate map. You will just have to rely on the information that you already have." She waved her paw again and the flames died down. The sparkling dust floated to the ground like glowing embers.

"Well, I suppose it's good enough just to know that it exists." He sighed. To be perfectly honest, his information was not nearly good enough to help him find that cave. He'd be completely on his own trying to find that thing up on the mountain.

Shirley crossed her arms again. "You do realize what will happen when you find that wellspring, right?"

He shrugged. "Why wouldn't I know? It has to be done, there's nothing else I can find that will cure him." He closed his eyes and sighed again. "It's not exactly going to be pleasant but it will be well worth it in the end. He deserves a chance to keep living."

She stared at him for a moment, her expressing unwavering. "If that's the case then perhaps I was wrong about you."

He blinked. "E-excuse me? What did you think before!"

She gave him a nasty grin again. "Some things are better left unsaid."

"Yeah right!" He growled. "How about I say what I think of you!"

"You're not going to because I already know that you have one last thing that you wish to ask of me."

He glared at her. "Well if you're going to pull all this mind reading nonsense on me then perhaps I'm better off just _thinking_ about all the nasty things I want to say about you." He waved a paw dismissively. "I don't even know why I'm bothering to say this since you already know what I'm going to say anyway, but I want you to read my fortune. You can look into my future and find out if this journey is going to work out or not. There's no point in me finding that cave if it doesn't even work anymore."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Yes, I should be able to do that, but sometimes the future is not so clear. We will have to see how much I can divine."

She stood up and went back over to the cart. With a wave of her paw, she invited Computer inside. They both sat down at the table and she pulled out a strange, multicolored cloth to polish her crystal ball with. She worked at that for several minutes before finally placing the giant orb back onto its stand.

"There," She said, cupping her paws together. "I haven't had a customer in ages and a dusty crystal ball can lead to bad omens."

"Bad omens, huh?" He asked. He still didn't care much for all this magic voodoo nonsense. For all the trouble it had caused Courage throughout the years and for the curse he himself had just endured, he'd rather keep himself far away from it. Magic and technology were just not meant to mix...

"Place both your paws firmly on the table and make sure to take deep breaths."

"Why?" He asked. This all seemed so stupid. Her cursing 'ritual' had been just as strange.

"Now is not the time to ask questions!" She snapped back. "Don't talk or else you will break my concentration!"

Sighing, he kept his mouth shut. At least she wasn't making him pay for this...

The medium leaned herself in closer to the crystal ball, waving her paws around. It had gone from being crystal clear to a white smokey color. Computer could see his slightly bored face staring right back at him through it.

"I see! I see!" She began. He had to roll his eyes at how cliche this all was.

Shirley continued to wave her paws over the crystal ball. Her eyes were trained intently on it and a bit of sweat was beginning to form above her eyebrows.

"Strange, nothing is coming." She spoke. "I should be at least seeing..." Her musing was cut off when the crystal ball suddenly turned a violent red and began to hiss like a boiling tea pot. "Hit the deck! She yelled, diving under the table.

Computer just barely managed to get his head down before the crystal ball exploded, sending glass shard out in every direction. Several of them embedded themselves into the wall and one shattered the only window in the cart.

"I guess I'm going to assume that you couldn't see my future." Computer grumbled, glancing over Shirley from under the table. This was the only time he had ever seen her express anything outside of mild amusement or annoyance.

"Strange, very strange..." She mused. She stood back up and straighten herself out. There was now a huge black spot on the table where her crystal ball had once stood.

"This _isn't _normal?" Computer asked. "I figured crystal balls explode all the time."

"I have only seen this once before in my life and it was a very long time ago. My mother was asked to read the fortune of a desperate man who claimed that death itself was hunting him. He appeared to have missed his death in some odd twist of fate and the reaper was trying to correct the mistake. My mother spoke of strange instances like this that everyone in my family has experienced at one time or another."

"Great, are about to tell me that I shouldn't save Courage either? I think he can handle the grim reaper if it decides to come after him."

"This does not just involve death but, yes, death is often an outcome in cases like these. You're fate is broken and I cannot divine anything about your past, present, or future because of it. That trip to the wellspring will not be the cause either. Your fate has already been broken and that means it would have had to happen some time in your past. It often takes a powerful supernatural force to change the outcome of ones fate and so I cannot say for certain what caused it to happen to you. It could have very well been your fate to save Courage's life and have no repercussions because of it but that does not seem to be the case here."

"So what you're saying is that I should have died at some point but didn't?" He asked. This was not even mildly shocking given how many times he had almost died just on this trip _alone_.

"No, these odd cases don't always pertain to death and I doubt you'd still be here if that were the case. The reaper is persistent in it's work and few escape it's clutches forever. You could have merely done something that was supposed to go in a different direction but, as I said, it is very hard for mortals to just stumble and break their fate on accident. Take my fortune telling for example, when I show someone their future it was fated for them to know it and act on the information they are given. I am incapable of breaking someone's fate just by letting them know what will happen. They could see that they were meant to die in a car crash and avoid it without any repercussions because they were _fated _to know that it would happen. Like I said, it is very hard for someone to break their fate accidentally or even intentionally."

Computer placed a finger up against his chin. "I could be considered supernatural myself, you know. Barring that, most of my memory is gone so it could have happened somewhere in my past too. Well, I do live with the most supernatural disaster prone family in the world so I bet all their fates are screwed up at this point anyway. Mine being broken could just be collateral damage..."

"It could be any number of things. Trying to pinpoint the exact event that broke your fate is a fruitless endeavor. All I know is that misfortune often clings to those with broken fates just like a hungry parasite."

Computer all but threw his paws up into the air at those words. "This explains everything!" He laughed. "I really am a living bad luck generator! I knew it!"

"You can't rule that out for certain." Shirley replied. "Though rare, some people do manage to live out normal lives despite their unnatural fate. They can go without so much as paper cut their entire life despite the cloud of misfortune that hangs over them. Bad luck is not always an indicator of a broken fate and broken fate is not always an attractor of bad luck."

"Can I do anything to fix it at least?" He asked. "It would help make sure nothing goes wrong before I can save Courage. Knowing my bad luck, our bus would crash before we could even get there."

"I'm afraid not. Once the threads of fate have been broken there is no putting them back together again. I suggest you do not take your time getting up that mountain. You've managed to make it this far without dying but who can say what will happen later when your future very likely guarantees misfortune." Her eyes narrowed. "And there is no telling what curing Courage will do to his fate either. It may have always been meant to happen and he will go on living out the remainder of his life or he was meant to die and death will come to try and claim the soul that belongs to him..."

End Of Chapter


	91. Autophobia

Chapter 91: Autophobia

Computer made his way back to the park, Shirley's words still lingering on his mind. This fate business just made his head hurt and it wasn't like he could do anything about it anyway. He'd managed to make it through most of his knowable life without dropping dead despite his own damn system trying to collapse out from under him. Why couldn't he make it just a little bit longer? Yes, there was no reason to worry. He'd get Courage up that mountain before anything bad could happen. If the grim reaper wanted to take his or Courage's soul, well, he'd just have to give him one heck of a fight for it.

He grimaced as a bright red car shot past him. Music was blaring from inside, making the ground shake underneath it. Why was anyone up at this hour, much less playing music loud enough to wake up half of Nowhere? He didn't get much time to dwell on it though as the car quickly turned a corner and the music slowly faded away. Two more cars passed him as he walked but they were both not worth noting. He half expected a black van to pull up beside him and try to kidnap him. He wouldn't put it past his terrible luck and his blue glow was more than enough of a beacon to attract strange characters.

Glancing up at the hospital building as he passed it, he sighed and turned away. He couldn't help but wonder how annoyed Courage would be with him tomorrow. Had Nina been right? Did Courage really want to get away from him? Well, he couldn't really blame him for it if he did. As much as it bothered him to do so, he still wasn't going to meet up with him right away tomorrow. He'd let the dog have his time with Muriel and he wouldn't interfere. He was going to be a good friend just _once _and this was the best way to go about it. After that, well, he'd have to find some way to prove to Courage that he really was trying to be better.

"If only I had more data." He grumbled. "That book can only go so far. I have to find a better way to incorporate its teachings into my programming! I've got to do better for Courage's sake!" He couldn't help the small twinge of fear that struck him. "...Or else he'll give up on me too, just like all the rest. I can't allow that to happen again, not after losing Nina too. Whatever he wants out of me, I'll figure out how to do it, no matter what. If I could get some small functionality out of my system just to make _them_ happy, well, this should be easy!"

Reassured of himself, he stepped into the park. He made his way back over to where he had been sitting before and glanced around. So far so good. No monsters around to eat him or _worse_. He was just about to sit back down again when doubt started to creep back into his mind.

"What if I screw this up?" He asked himself. Terror began to well up inside of him, much to his dismay. "There's no way I'm _not _going to screw this up! I need more data! I need a better understanding of this friendship insanity! My absolute best was never good enough for _them _so what chance do I have now? Courage will never forgive me unless I prove to him that I can do better!"

His fear was quickly turning into full scale panic. He'd never been able to keep even _one _of his owners. How could he possibly stop it from happening again? He didn't want to lose Courage too!

"Come on, get a grip!" He chided himself. "I'm just letting these stupid emotions get the better of me again." He shook his head and tried to fight back the deluge of fear that seemed to be getting worse by the minute. "I've overcome unwanted emotions before, I can do it again!"

Despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop the near picture perfect scene of Courage rejecting him tomorrow morning from playing out over and over again in his mind. Fear gripped paranoia overtook him yet again, and, try as he might, he just couldn't push back all the horrible emotions he so badly wished to delete. It was over! He was going to mess this up! He'd lose Courage too! It was bad enough to lose Nina and now he was going to lose Courage too! Why on earth was it so hard to keep just one friend? What was he doing wrong?

He sat down, unable to find a solution to his problem. He was doomed, there was no other way around it. Sure, he still had to get Courage up that mountain, but the dog could easily declare that they were no longer friends. He could treat him coldly for the rest of the journey or outright not talk to him at all anymore. It would end up being just as bad as getting tossed out into a garbage heap. Losing Courage as his only friend would be, well, horrible.

Frustrated, he dug his fingers into the grass. "I don't want to be alone." He whispered "But I don't know what to do." His ears drooped at the prospect of it. "It's the same every time. I've tried my best, but..."

He squeezed his eyes shut and laid back. Slowly but surely he resigned himself to his fate. He couldn't stop what was inevitable. There was no point in fighting it. For all of Courage's optimism, things were going to turn out exactly the way they always did. He was going to be left alone. He _already _was alone.

"What am I going to do?" He asked himself in desperation. If he could do something, _anything _to save himself from what would inevitably happen tomorrow, he'd do it. He tried to force himself to calm down but it wasn't working. He was beginning to see how anxiety could affect flesh creatures so strongly. There was no way he could fall asleep like this when his emotions just wouldn't give him a break. He couldn't even shut them off for a little while! If only there were a way to delete them for good!

He sat up again, giving up at this fruitless endeavor. "And now I won't be able to fall asleep either!" He spat. "Bah, what a waste! I could write up a laundry list of all the things that are wrong with me at this point! I'm lucky to have even a shred of sanity left!"

He let his head hit the grass again, frustrated with absolutely everything. Perhaps all this broken fate nonsense simply meant that he would never be able to keep a single friend. He was doomed to drive away everyone around him no matter how hard he'd try to stop it. If it were not from his failure as a machine it would be from his failure at being a sentient person. He himself was just as much of a mess as his system was. Without an internet connection and without a decent memory, he was even more useless then any natural born organic creature. He was simply lacking in too much information needed to function like a proper flesh creature. At least he had _some _functionality as a machine despite his horrifically unstable system. Without the internet at his disposal he was nothing more than a badly functioning machine with a horrible personality that nobody would be willing to put up with.

"I'll apologize to him. That's all I can do. I-I don't if it'll work, but..." He shuttered and turned onto his side. He hadn't even noticed that his fingers were going numb from the cold until now. "I tried to change for the better, I really did. It won't be good enough, I know that already, but I-I don't know what else to do. I don't want to be alone again..."

…...

Courage's morning was ruined by an ill tempered nurse who came hobbling into the room and began to boss both him and Muriel around. She pushed him off the bed, checked Muriel's head, had her dress as quickly as possible, and then shuffled them out the room so fast that Muriel didn't even get a chance to put her shoes on. They had to sit through some weird decontamination procedure to make sure they didn't have 'bluemangitis', whatever that was, and finally they made Muriel sign some paperwork before pushing them out the door.

The parking lot was deserted at this hour. Eustace had left last night to go sleep at home and he obviously wasn't back yet. Neither Nina nor Computer were around either but Courage didn't expect them to be here so early either.

He looked over at Muriel who was straightening out the hem of her dress. Her hair was frazzled where the bandages covering her injury didn't touch and her glasses were on at a slight angle. She didn't seem to mind how quickly they had thrown her out of the hospital nor that they had given her such little time to dress.

"Goodness, it's early." She spoke. "Eustace won't be back for awhile, I'm sure. That man would sleep an entire week away if I wasn't around to wake him up."

Courage sat himself down on the curb and yawned. He half expected Nina and Computer to show up at any moment despite the early hour. Computer would have no doubt woken her up at the crack of dawn to get them down to the hospital as soon as possible. He wasn't sure how he'd explain them to Muriel but he knew he'd find a way, somehow.

"I suppose I should go pick a few things up from the store as long as we're here." Muriel said, finally flattening her hair out. "It'll be a little while before Eustace comes to pick us up anyway. Could you wait here and watch for him, Courage?"

Normally he would have preferred to go with her but today he didn't mind sticking around so that he could keep an eye out for Nina and Computer. He didn't like how odd Eustace had been acting lately but hopefully his friends would show up before the grumpy old farmer could do anything to him.

"I'll be back in a little bit." Muriel said as she patted him on his head. He wagged his tail and watched as she headed off.

A half an hour went by but neither Muriel, nor Computer, nor Nina showed back up. Strange, he was absolutely certain that his friends would have been here by now. Muriel's favorite store was on the other side of town so at least she had an excuse for taking such a long time. The half hour quickly turned into an hour and Courage found himself growing worried. Could something have happened to Nina and Compute? Were they just late? He forced himself to calm down. There was probably a good reason why they weren't here yet. It wasn't something to worry about.

Standing up to stretch his legs, he went over to the sidewalk. No sign of anyone yet. A car passed him by but aside from that, everything was quiet. No Eustace, no Muriel, no Computer, no Nina. What the heck was going on?

He decided to take his chances and crossed the street. If Eustace showed up while he was gone then he'd just have to wait for him to return. He made his way down the block and over to a cafe on the street corner. He figured he'd go pick up some coffee for Computer. He knew the machine would probably be angry with him for dissing him yesterday but hopefully this would be enough of an apology. He didn't know where his two friends were right now but he hoped he wouldn't have to walk all the way back to the hotel before Muriel could get back to the hospital.

Paying for his coffee, he stepped back outside and stood there for a moment. Scanning the street across from him, his eyes wandered over to the park from before. He did a double take when he realized there was something blue glowing over there.

"C-Computer?" He asked. There was no mistaking it, it was him. What on earth was he doing over there? Was he...asleep?

End Of Chapter


	92. The Dearest Of Friendships

Chapter 92: The Dearest Of Friendships

Computer awoke to someone shaking his shoulder. He figured it was probably some idiot who didn't want him lying around in the park and he grimaced. As if his day wasn't off to a bad start _already_!

"Hey! Wake up, Compute!"

His eyes shot open.

"C-Courage?" He asked in disbelief.

The pup was standing there with one of his paws behind his back. He smiling happily at him, which befuddled the poor machine more than anything.

"Here," He said, revealing that he had a cup of coffee behind his back. "It's an, er, apology for ditching you back there."

"I...uh..." Computer stammered out, still completely disbelieving what he was seeing. He took the coffee and stood up, his mouth slightly agape. He had expected Courage to be angry with him not...not _this_.

The dog almost knocked him right back down again when he tackled him into a hug. "You know, last night was pretty boring without you around. I'm glad you're back! I was worried you would take what I said the wrong way. I know I promised I wouldn't leave you alone anymore but Muriel would have noticed if there was a big metal spider in the room. Sorry."

Computer's mouth continued to hang open. He suddenly couldn't find his voice no matter how hard he tried. This was a complete far cry from what he had expected to happen. He had been so certain that Courage would fault him for not being a _proper_ friend...

"So, what are you doing out here anyway?" Courage continued. "Where's Nina? I thought you guys were going to meet me at the hospital?"

"Oh..." Computer finally spoke, his ears drooping. "We got into an argument and...well..."

Courage raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me, you slept out here all night?"

"Yeah..." He replied, glancing away.

Courage couldn't help but laugh. "You really can't go more than five seconds without starting an argument, can you?"

He managed a weak smile at the dog's quip. "I suppose not. It's just the way I am, isn't it?" He shook his head and sighed. "I didn't mean to fight with her, it's just...well, it's a long story."

"Why don't you apologize to her? I'm sure whatever you two were fighting about wasn't worth the effort."

His eyes widened and he crossed his arms. "I'm not apologizing for anything! It was her fault!"

Courage grinned again. "You're never going to keep any friends like that."

He relented at the dog's words. He knew how to be a better friend than him after all. "Alright, alright! I'll talk to her, but I won't apologize for anything, you got that?"

Courage laughed. "Stubborn as always! Well, anyway, would you like to get some lunch with me before we head back to Nina's place? I know you hate food but you've got to be starving by now."

"I'm not hungry at all, thank you very much, but...I suppose I will go with you." His ears drooped again. "So long as it puts off having to fight with Nina again..."

"You'll do fine!" Courage laughed. He grabbed his one free paw and led him down the sidewalk. "I know a great place to eat!" He said, pulling him along. "We've got a little while before Muriel gets done with her errands. We'll have to see what we can do about her too. She still thinks I'm sitting in front of the hospital waiting for Eustace."

Computer was somewhat glad that Courage was guiding him along. He felt...wrong. Like his limbs were too heavy and his lungs weren't getting enough air. He felt lethargic and the world seemed to spin as he walked. He was feeling surprisingly hot despite how cool it should be after that bitterly cold night. Had he caught one of those flesh creature viruses? Courage HAD just been badly sick with one, so maybe he had caught it from him.

"Hurry up!" Courage spoke, pulling him along. "This place has the best french fries ever! Even a food hater like you would like them!"

…..

Courage had eaten his way through two hamburgers, a bucket of chicken wings, and three helpings of french fries. He knew it wasn't good to eat fast food for breakfast, but hey, a dying dog should get _some _privileges. He was now polishing off the last of his soda and was even considering ordering another hamburger. The restaurant was deserted at this hour so only he and Computer were around. He half expected Eustace show up, considering how late he was and how he liked to eat here, but the old farmer was nowhere to be found.

He gave Computer a quizzical look. The machine hadn't been talking much ever since they got back together again. He was currently sitting across from him, his muzzle resting on the table and his eyes closed. He hadn't taken so much as a sip of his coffee which was strange in and of itself. He didn't look very well either so Courage had let him sleep while he ate.

"Did you get any rest at all last night?" He asked. This seemed to pull his friend out of his sleepy stupor.

Computer opened a single, weary looking eye. "As much as one can manage when they're sleeping on the ground."

Courage blinked. There was something off about his eyes as well. Were they glowing...darker than usual? "You look like you need a nap." He said. "You should crash at Nina's place once we get back."

"I'm fine." He murmured, closing his eye again. "My head _is_ pounding though. I think I caught whatever you had. It's not a bother though, I'm fine enough to keep going."

"You sure about that?" Courage asked, raising an eyebrow. He was certain of it now, Computer's entire glow was dulling, almost to a point of where he was more purple than blue.

The machine sat back up again, swaying there with a paw up against his head. He blinked several times as though he couldn't get his eyes to focus on Courage. "I'll live." He replied quietly.

Courage gave him an unconvinced glare.

"Look, we've wasted enough time as is. Let's just get this rest of this nonsense wrapped up and get on a bus before something _else _can delay our departure."

"If you're not feeling well then I think we can put off leaving just a little while longer."

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. My current condition has nothing..." He stopped, his eyes widening. His expression quickly hardened and he crossed his arms, sticking his nose up into the air.

Courage glanced around. Nina was looking in at them through the diner window. She was waving happily but Computer wasn't relenting in his stubborn anger.

"Hi!" Courage called out as she entered.

"Hey, Courage!" She replied, walking over to them. She sat down beside him and stared over at Computer. He still had his arms crossed, eyes closed, and nose stuck up in the air.

"Hey, uh, I'm sorry about last night." She said rather sheepishly. "I felt really bad about it afterwords and I went looking for you but I couldn't find you no matter where I looked. I was starting to worry that maybe something bad had happened to you while I was gone. I really shouldn't have blown up at you like that and I'm really sorry. It's just that your curse would have absolutely wreaked my dad's place and I, you know, like having a place to live."

"Curse?" Courage asked. He glanced over between the two of them but neither were listening to his question.

Computer remained silent, not relenting an inch.

Nina bowed her head. "I'm really, really, _really _sorry!"

He opened an eye and stared at her. "Promise you won't do it again?" He asked.

"Of course! Just as long as you promise not to have a jet crash into my house!"

His entire body seemed to loosen up. "You don't have to worry about that. I had the curse removed last night."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Courage interrupted. "What's this curse? And why are you just forgiving her when you never forgive me for anything!"

"Because you're a twit." The machine replied with a shrug.

"Seriously! What's going on with this curse you guys keep talking about?" He cried out.

"Well...about that..." Computer spoke, sinking down into his chair, clearly embarrassed about _something_.

Nina laughed. "You should have seen it! It was hilarious! He had a pink bow and everything!"

Computer groaned and slapped his forehead.

Courage blinked. "Pink bow?"

"He was like 'this' close to going completely crazy!" Nina continued. "He got thrashed by a little girl and a squirrel!"

The glowing dog crossed his arms again, looking particularly outraged. "Well, you would have gone crazy too if you had to go through what I did!"

"What the heck are you two talking about?" Courage interrupted. "None if it makes any sense! Curses? Bows? Little girls?"

And with that he was forced to watch as his two friends argued over what happened. Nina trying to embarrass Computer, Computer trying to make it not seem as bad as it sounded. The whole story genuinely shocked Courage. Computer had gotten himself cursed just so that he could become a _good friend_,as he put it. Apparently he had some big misconception that he was angry with him about it.

"And that's the whole nightmare!" He snapped. "Can we please never talk about this again?"

"Nope," Nina laughed. "I'm going to remind you every hour on the hour that you got beat up by a little girl."

"Hmph! What a failure! I went through all that trouble and I still have nothing to show for it!"

"Compute..." Courage said after having remained completely silent for the duration of their story. "You're a perfectly fine friend and you don't have to take on a whole hospital of 'crazy doctors', as you called them just to show it."

The glowing dog's eyes widen for a moment and then he glanced away. Clearing his throat, he said, "Well, you say that now but you'll be thinking otherwise after our next argument."

Courage grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way!"

The briefest of smiles fell across his cynical friend's face before he quickly realized what he was doing and flipped it back into a frown. "I hope you're happy with all the distress you cause me. I can't believe I go through all this trouble just for a twit. I must be going insane."

"Well, aren't you singing a new tune." Nina teased. "I seem to recall a certain someone who was absolutely _desperate _to get this 'twit's' approval."

"I don't need any approval!" He snapped, crossing his arms. "I just get tired of arguing with him all the time, that's all!"

"Oh, so you weren't really trying to be a better friend?" Courage asked, still smiling.

"Of course not! I just..." He stopped and clutched his head. "Ugh! You're just going to lead me along with this aren't you? Can't you be a little nicer? Especially since you got me sick with whatever you had!"

"No kidding." Nina spoke. "You look terrible."

He crossed his arms again. "No thanks to you leaving me outside all night!"

"You should probably eat something." Courage pipped in before the two of them could start fighting again. "You're not going to get any better if you're half starved."

"I'd rather have this virus continue to make my head feel like it's splitting apart then ever eat anything again!"

"Don't you have a limit to your stubbornness?" Nina asked. "Your aversion to food is insane!"

"Says the flesh creature who's been eating their entire life! I don't know how any of you can stand it!"

Courage plucked a single remaining french fry from its container and waved it in front of him. "Just eat this one fry and we'll leave you alone."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, _obviously _fast food dipped in a metric ton of grease is going to be the perfect thing for me to get my substance from. I'd get more nutrients eating a shoe than from that fry!"

"You haven't lived until you've binged on fast food at least once!" Nina laughed.

"C'mon, Compute! Just one!" Courage egged.

He snatched the fry out of Courage's paw and sneered at it. "If it will get you two to shut up..." He growled, swallowing the thing whole and looking particularly displeased.

"Told you it wouldn't be that bad!" Nina exclaimed.

The only probably was that his face was now beginning to turn green...

"I need to go, NOW!" He yelled, jumping out of his chair and racing over to the nearest bathroom door.

Nina stared. "...I guess that wasn't the best idea..."

"Well, at least with all that coffee he drinks he won't dehydrate very fast." Courage replied, cringing.

"Do you think he'll be alright in there? Knowing him he'd probably find a way to accidentally drown himself in a toilet..."

Courage cringed even harder. "I'd better go make sure. I really don't want to, but..."

"You're braver than I am." Nina laughed. "Good luck..."

He climbed down out of his chair and headed over to the bathroom. Why, oh why was he doing this? Pinching his nose shut, he pushed the door open.

"Computer, are you okay?" He asked, desperately trying not to breath in.

The stall beside him burst open and Computer tumbled out, looking even more green in the face than ever before. "No, no I'm not alright!" He groaned, almost collapsing headfirst onto the floor. "Why on earth did you flesh creatures evolve to start regurgitating food when sick? I think I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!"

Courage moved forward to help his friend. The glowing dog was swaying like a ship and his ever dulling eyes seemed incapable of focusing.

"You really need to rest when we get back to Nina's place." He said quietly. "You don't look good at all."

"I don't _feel _good at all." He groaned. "I think I'd rather take on a real virus than deal with this organic kind!"

"Maybe I should give you some of my medicine. You probably have whatever I got."

Computer raised a paw to silence him. His face had gone very green again and before Courage could even react, he swung back around and into a stall.

"What are you even throwing up?" The poor dog asked, feeling nauseous at the sounds he was hearing coming from the stall. "You haven't eaten anything TO throw up!"

"I don't know!" Computer cried out between heaves. "Why does every moment of my existence have to be filled with pain and unhappiness? This is horrible! This is the worse thing ever! I'm never eating another bite of food again! _Never_!"

Courage was somewhere between, pity, laughter, and nausea. He wanted to reach in and pat his friend on the back but decided against it. Computer was continuing to rant, pleading with life itself to give him a break just _once_. It was so pathetic that Courage couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't worry, Compute. This can't go on forever."

"I think this dog's stomach just dropped into the toilet. Are the rest of his intestines going to follow?" The machine asked, half-dazed. He squinted at Courage. "Did you grow an extra pair of eyes?"

"Keep it together, pal." Courage laughed. "I think your brain has finally fried."

"Well, the good news is that it looks like it's finally done. The bad new is that everything is spinning even _worse _than it was before. I can barely even think straight I'm so dizzy..."

Courage kept a paw on him to keep him from falling over. "Let's get you back to Nina's place." He said gently.

Computer pushed himself away and shook his head in a desperate attempt to clear it. "Alright, so I'm not doing very well." He admitted. "But don't you dare start babying me like some sick puppy! It's not that bad!"

Courage couldn't help but smile. This was just so typical of Computer...

"So long as I don't start hallucinating or something, everything will be fine!" He continued.

"Compute, before we head back out..." Courage said gently to his friend. He was unable to hide the fondness in his voice and that was perfectly fine. He was happy just to have his cynical companion around and didn't want anything else. "Promise me one thing, okay?"

"Bah! Can't you give me a break just once? I'm a bit sick if you haven't noticed!"

"Promise me you won't try to change yourself anymore? You don't need to be a perfect friend and we're always going to fight sometimes. You shouldn't have to feel like you need to be anyone but yourself, okay? I like you just as you are and I'd really hate it if you changed."

The machine stared at him for a moment. "What? Are you spouting off Saturday morning cartoon speeches now or something?" He asked. "It's my choice to change if I want to or not. You have nothing to do with it!" He crossed his arms and and glanced away in a snobbish huff.

Courage continued to smile at his friend's usual antics. "Stubborn as always..."

End Of Chapter


	93. Another Lie Made

Chapter 93: Another Lie Made

"So how are we going to go about this?" Computer asked. All three of them were heading back to the hospital and all three of them still had no idea how to get Muriel away from Courage without upsetting her again.

"Do you think we should lie?" Nina asked. "I don't think she'd believe it if I told her that you guys were going to a mountain."

"We'll just have to convince her of something." Computer sighed.

"Well, I've already had to trick her once." Courage said to the both of them. "I guess it won't hurt to do it to her again. I really wish we..."

"ACK!" Computer yelped. He had stumbled forward and landed face first onto the pavement. The cup of coffee he was still carrying burst open and spilled everywhere.

"I know you're sick and everything." Nina said, grabbing his arm and helping him back up. "But you've been awfully clumsy lately. Remember when you somehow managed to knock that whole shelf of flowers over?"

"It was that stupid human body." He grumbled as he brushed himself off. "Now my sense of balance is completely messed up after going back to this dog body! All this dizziness doesn't help either!"

"Dizziness?" She asked. "You really do need some rest. Whatever you have must be pulling a number on you."

"That's what I told him." Courage added.

He gave his paw a dismissive wave. "I'll be fine. Lets just keep going."

Nina continued to gaze down at him with concern. "If you say so, but are you sure you don't want me to carry you or something?"

He looked mortified at the prospect. "I am not a baby! I can walk on my own!"

"Okay, okay. Walk if you want." She sighed.

They continued on their way, Computer stumbling with every step. Courage tried to grab his arm to help him out but he insisted that he walk on his own. The hospital finally came into view and Muriel and Eustace were already there with the truck.

"Courage!" She cried out, racing across the street to get to him. She gathered him up in her arms and stifled him with a hug. "Where on earth have you been, Courage? I was so worried you had gone away again..."

"Abububublu." He replied.

"Are these your friends?" She asked, turning to Nina and Computer. "And, oh look! You've even got another dog friend!" She placed him back onto the ground and scooped up Computer next. He looked exceedingly annoyed as she petted him.

"Courage has been with me, Ms. Muriel." Nina spoke. "He's been playing with my dog, you see."

"Has he now?" Muriel asked. "It's good that Courage is finally making some friends!"

"I didn't mean to keep him from you, Ms. Muriel, and I'm really sorry that I almost got him shot! He got away from me for a little while. I think he smelt you, that's why."

"Oh, it's quite alright, dear! I'm just happy to know where Courage has been all this time."

"And there's something else I wanted to talk to you about." She said, shuffling her feet. "Me and my family are going on a road trip very soon. Courage wants to come along and I wanted to get permission from you."

Muriel turned to Courage. "Would you really like to go on a road trip with your new friends?" She asked.

He wagged his tail. "Mmmhmm!"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. He...doesn't have much time left and if he really wants to go..." She trailed off, her expression becoming sullen.

Computer finally grimaced and wrenched his way out of Muriel's arms, landing with the grace of a one-winged, three legged swan back onto the ground...

"But before you go, deary, you must know that he's sick and that he..."

Nina cut her off. "I know. I'll be sure to take good care of him. My pal here keeps an eye on him too." She said, glancing down at Computer.

"Good, good!" Muriel said. She was clearly fighting back tears. "You have a good time, won't you, Courage?" She asked, kneeling down beside him.

Courage nodded and nuzzled her.

"Promise you'll be back soon?"

He nodded again.

"Okay, I'd better get back to Eustace. Have fun on your road trip, Courage!"

He hugged her one last time before she returned to the truck. All three of them watched as they pulled out and drove away, Courage waving weakly at them. He whimpered, suddenly feeling very lonely again. He felt Computer's paw touch his shoulder and he turned to face him.

"We'll be up that mountain in no time." He said reassuringly. "So don't worry, it'll be alright. Muriel will be fine until then."

Courage smiled weakly and nodded. It made him feel a little better but who could say what might be on the horizon?

"Alright, how about we get out of here and get you guys ready to catch the next bus?" Nina asked.

"Good!" Computer exclaimed. "No more delays!"

They started to walk again, Courage keeping up with Nina but Computer lagging behind as he continued to trip and stumble.

"A road trip?" The pup asked. "Did you think that up on the fly?"

"I figured it would make a nice half truth. You guys technically are going on a road trip after all!"

"I hope this won't take too long." He admitted weakly. "She'll start to worry if I don't come back within a reasonable amount of time."

"Well, I bet Computer could tell you the exact amount of days this will take. Hey, Compute." She spoke. "Use that calculator brain of yours to figure out how long this trip is going to take."

No response...

"Computer?" She asked.

They both turned around and gasped. Computer was on the ground, several buildings down from them, unmoving.

"Computer!" Courage yelled but his friend still did not stir.

As he raced forward to get to him, he noticed another disturbing development. His glow was almost completely gone now leaving him a dull, almost gray like color.

"Hey, come on, Compute. Wake up!" He said, dropping to his knees beside him.

"Check to see if he's still breathing!" Nina spoke in a panicked whisper.

"He is." Courage replied. That was at least one good thing. So long as he was still breathing...

"You don't think it's because he's sick?" She asked. She placed a hand up against his forehead and shook her head. "He doesn't feel feverish."

"I don't know." He whimpered. "We need to get him back to your place. He can't be helped here."

She nodded and gingerly picked the graying dog up. "I hope this isn't my fault for leaving him outside all night."

"Don't blame yourself, Nina. If he really is sick I'm sure it would have happened no matter where he was." Courage reassured her.

Suddenly, much to their shock, Computer's eyelids began to move. They both held their breath as his eyes snapped open and he gazed up at Nina. "Wha...what happened?" He asked.

She smiled happily at him. "You must have passed out back there. How are you doing, pal?"

His eyes narrowed angrily at her words. "Who are you?" He asked.

Her smile faded and Courage's mouth fell open.

"What?" She asked.

"Where am I? He continued, the outraged clearly etched in his face. "W-wait, what? T-this doesn't make any sense." He raised both his paws up to his face. "I-I don't have hands. H-how is this..."

"Computer, I think you're..."

His moment of awe seemed to fade away. He pushed himself out of Nina's arms and landed beside Courage.

Computer..." He spoke, reaching a paw out toward him. "Don't move, let me..."

"What the heck is going on here?" He asked. He tried to back away but his limbs seemed to be completely alien to him. He fell over almost immediately.

"Don't you recognize me?" Courage asked, still moving forward.

"No, no I don't. Just stay away from me, you stupid dog! I don't know what the heck happened to me but I'm not going..."

Courage reached down and grabbed his paw, partly horrified at what was happening. How could Computer suddenly forget him? "I just want to help you so don't worry, okay. We'll try to figure out what's wrong with you."

The machine's eyes widened for a moment and then he squeezed them shut, clutching his head in pain. When he opened them again he stared at the both of them in confusion. "What are you two look at me like that for?" He asked. "How did I..."

"Computer, i-is that you?" Courage asked.

"Who else would it be?" He asked, clutching his head again. "Ugh, why won't everything stop spinning? It feels like my mind is about to split in half. I knew headaches were bad but not _this _bad."

Courage glanced up at Nina and then back over at Computer. "I think we need to get you back to Nina's place as soon as possible."

"Why are you two looking at me like that?" He asked again. "I can't remember how I got here, but..."

Courage swallowed. "Look, you passed out a few minutes ago and when you woke up you didn't recognize us anymore."

Computer wrapped his arms around himself and began to shiver. "You don't think I was doing that dream thing again, right? I don't see what else could be happening. Could I be getting delirious from the flu?"

"Are you cold?" Nina asked.

He closed his eyes again. "I don't know. It feels like I'm freezing and burning up all at the same time."

"Well, I don't think you have the flu. Your nose would be running, you'd be coughing up a lung, and you don't even feel slightly warm."

He continued to shiver. "What else could I have? I don't know of any illnesses that cause symptoms like these. Could it be supernatural?"

"Look, lets just get you home first." Nina spoke, reaching down to pick him up.

He raised a paw in protest. "I'll walk."

"You're kidding right?" Courage asked. "You need help!"

"Ugh, this is just going to cause more delays! We need to get to that mountain!"

"We can worry about the mountain after we figure out what's wrong with you!" Courage argued. He grabbed his arm and helped him stand back up.

"Ugh, no, I think I want to sit back down." He spoke, clutching his head again with his one free paw. "I swear the Earth has been dropped into free fall and invisible fairies are driving hot bits of charcoal into my head!"

Nina finally reached down and picked him up, much to his annoyance. "You don't think that maybe the reason you've been so crazy lately is because of this as well?" She asked.

"Crazy?" He asked. "I have not been acting crazy!"

"Getting yourself intentionally cursed is like three kinds of crazy!" She argued back. "Face it, you were acting completely unhinged all that time after Courage left with Muriel!"

"Did not!" He growled, crossing his arms.

"Stop fighting!" Courage pipped in. "We need to hurry up and get back!"

End Of Chapter


	94. Frailty

Chapter 94: Frailty

Nina shoved a thermometer into Computer's mouth, much to his displeasure. He was currently a dull blue color which was the best he had looked ever since they had raced to get him back to the hotel. Grayness kept seeping into his glow as he slipped in and out of consciousness. He was looking even more haggard now and seemed ready to fall over at any given moment.

"Nothing." She said, scratching her head in confusion. "He's not running a fever at all."

"What the heck's wrong with him then?" Courage asked.

"Will you two stop talking like I'm not even here?" He snapped weakly. Even when he was slipping out of consciousness at random intervals he still wasn't being any less...well, like himself. "It's bad enough that I've got to deal with all this dizziness and head pain without you idiots making it worse!"

"Now's not the time to get angry over little things, Compute!" Courage scolded him. "We don't know what to do to help you!"

"If you want to help you can start by telling me how we got here." His tone was slightly lethargic and he kept squinting, obviously incapable of keeping his eyes focused. "The last thing I remember was that we were at that diner, and..."

"Y-you forgot the rest?" He stuttered out. Panic was beginning to fill his voice despite his best efforts to keep calm. Just what the heck was happening to his friend? Between this and his loss of color, it was all so strange...

The machine placed a paw up against his head. "It's blank after that. Did we...talk to Muriel or something? I remember we were planning on talking to her, but..."

"This is bad." Courage whimpered. "What if you keep forgetting things? You couldn't even remember me for a few seconds back there!"

"I doubt it was that bad." He replied with a listless shrug. "Although I have noticed that my memory hasn't been the greatest lately...wait..." He stopped, his expression suddenly growing sullen for a moment.

"What's up?" Nina asked.

His eyes widened. "Oh, no. I think I might know what's wrong..."

Courage's stomach plummeted at his friend's fearful tone. "What's going on?" He asked weakly.

"Nina," Computer said, turning to her. "Can you go get my real body?"

"Y-yeah." She replied. Obviously she was just as confused as Courage was but she didn't object to Computer's request.

"What do you think?" Courage asked as soon as she was gone.

Computer clutched his head again, cringing. "Just wait a moment. I want to be sure first..." He looked absolutely mortified which only made Courage feel even worse. "I don't want you two to panic over what could be nothing."

"Do you need anything?" Courage asked quietly. He wished he could do _something _that might make his friend feela little better.

Computer ignored the question. He was staring off into space, partly lost in thought and partly terrified out of his wits.

"Computer?" He asked again.

The machine blinked and shook his head. "No, no, I'm fine." He replied, exhaling loudly and closed his eyes for a moment. "I suppose I should thank you for asking though. That's what a friend is supposed to do, right? Well, that's what the book said to do anyway."

Courage gave him a grim smile. "Now's really not the best time to worry about being a proper friend."

"Come to think of it." He spoke, his expression becoming sorrowful. "I almost forgot to tell you how sorry I am."

"W-wha? Why are you apologizing? You haven't done anything wrong."

He gave Courage a sad smile. "I'm very sorry for everything I've done and everything I will do. I wanted to change for the better but I couldn't do it no matter how hard I tried. Now all I can do is apologize for it. I intentionally drove most of my old owners away but now I keep doing it even when I don't mean to."

"Compute, I told you already, it's fine. I don't want you to change and you don't have to feel guilty about anything, alright? I promised I wouldn't do to you what those other people did so I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

The glowing dog glanced away. "Until we fight again, then you won't be talking like that."

Courage smiled. "How many times have we fought by now? I'm still here despite all that, right?"

"Bah! Why must you always get my hopes up? I _know _how this will end and I don't want to set myself up for another disaster!"

"I'm not like those people. I made a promise and I'm sticking by it." Courage replied adamantly.

"Words don't mean anything in the end!" Computer finally snapped. "I don't even know why I'm arguing about this anymore! It's an inevitability! I know for a fact that it is!"

Courage gave him another calm smile. "I think you're just stressed out, Compute. When this is all over with and we finally get back home I'll prove to you that you're wrong. I'm going to keep my promise, no matter what."

His friend stared at him with a mixture of confusion and disbelief. He clutched his head again and tried to say something but couldn't seem to find the words.

"Try to calm down, okay?" He asked. "I know these last couple of days have been really rough on you but you've gotta stop stressing out."

"Fine..." He relented. "If you insist. You make it sound like it's easy though..."

Nina came tromping back into the room. Computer's real body was slung over her back.

"This thing weighs a ton!" She exclaimed, dropping the machine onto the floor.

"Be careful with that!" He yelled, cringing at her carelessness. "Just hurry up and get it plugged in!"

"Don't be so bossy!" She snapped back.

He went over and plugged one of the claws into his back. "Sorry, I'm just a bit worried, alright? You can't fault me for being a bit on edge."

"Ugh, just hurry up and figure out what's wrong with you, okay?" She grumbled, sorting out his many wires and plugging a few of them in.

He nodded and allowed the download process to start up. They watched as his blue glow drained away leaving a normal but very confused dog looking in his place. The dog stared up at them rather dumbly and then shook the claw off his back.

"Come over here, little guy!" Nina coaxed. The dog clearly recognized her and trudged over. She scooped him up into her arms and began to stoke him. He began to nod off almost immediately.

"He seems okay." Courage pipped in. "He doesn't look sick at all."

"Yeah..." She replied, mystified with this new development.

"How are you doing, Compute?" Courage asked, turning to the machine on the floor. He remained silent, much to his dismay. The screen was glowing with its usual color and as far as he could tell, Computer looked fine.

"Computer?" He asked again. "Are you okay?"

Nothing...

"Computer..." Dread was welling up inside of him. "Is...everything alright?"

"It's bad!" He finally spoke. "It's very, very bad!" His voice was nearing complete hysterics.

"What?" Courage asked. "What do you mean? Calm down and explain."

"I wasn't sure!" He cried out. "I never knew for certain if my system could still degrade even while I was in a different body! I figured it wouldn't matter even if it did because I thought we'd be up that mountain long before it could start affecting me!"

Courage swallowed. His sense of dread was growing by the second. "What do you mean, Compute?"

"I-I've never seen it this bad! Even when I intentionally let my system degrade it never got a chance to get this far!" Fear etched every word that he spoke. "My memory banks have almost completely failed which explains the random loss of memory. If that goes, well, you can't exactly fix anything when you can't hold a memory for less than ten milliseconds."

"So what you're saying is..." Courage tried to say in a weak voice. He almost couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I can't even begin to hope to stop my system from collapsing now. There's no time and...I-I don't even know where to start. I've never..."

Courage's mouth fell open. The hopelessness in his friend's voice only helped to compound his own terror.

"I've got a few hours left before my memory goes completely. The entire system might last a day or so before it gives out too but that's hardly anything worth celebrating. Its instability must have manifested itself physically and mentally while I was in that dog body. My, 'clumsy insanity', as Nina put it was very likely connected with that. Jumping into a human body and then back into a dog must have been the last straw for my system. These severe symptoms are merely it being unable to cope with the needs of an organic body."

"So, wait. This means you're going to..." Nina asked in disbelief.

"I've got a couple of hours left, but yes, this is the end."

End Of Chapter


	95. Fighting Oblivion

Chapter 95: Fighting Oblivion

A twinge of cold, vicious panic ran through Courage. This was all just so sudden. He couldn't believe it. It was almost as bad as when he had first learned about his own deadly illness.

"Y-you're going to die?" He stuttered, barely even able to bring himself to speak. "But you were fine just a day ago! Y-you can't just..."

"I'm really sorry, Courage." Computer sighed. "I had no idea it would get this bad over such a short amount of time. Having to exist within an organic body seemed to have worn my system out much faster than normal, plus we were always getting delayed every step of the way."

"There's got to be something you can do!" Courage cried out. "We can't just give up like this!"

"It's too late to do anything now, I'm afraid. I might have had a chance to survive maybe a day or two ago but now I'm long past the point of no return. Bah, I'm such a fool! I was in this body yesterday and didn't even notice what was going on! I was so preoccupied with everything else that was going on that I didn't even notice any of the signs..."

"Wait," Nina interrupted. "Did...did I cause this? Is it because I left you outside? Oh god, I'm so sorry!"

"Of course not! This has nothing to do with our fight so don't worry about it, alright? If anything it's my fault for not paying attention. After all this time I've spent fighting my dying system, I can't believe I let my guard down..."

"Compute, come on!" Courage yelled, shaking his head. "I'm not going to let you die like this! W-we'll think of something! I know we can find a way! Y-you found a way to help me after all!"

"Our situations are completely different, Courage. Please don't make this any harder for me. I know it's sudden but there's nothing we can do about it." Computer replied gently.

"What about getting him up that mountain?" Nina asked, her voice filled with sorrow.

He sighed again, his tone becoming even more mournful. "I may have doomed you as well, Courage. You can't just have anyone take you up that mountain. The means of getting the wellspring to work is...complex. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who'd be willing to help you either way. I'm very sorry."

Courage dropped to his knees so that he was almost eye to eye with Computer's screen. He bit back another wave of tears that were forming in his eyes. "Stop apologizing, okay? I'm...I'm getting really tired of it. C-can't you just start calling me a twit again or something?"

He gave him a soft chuckle. "I never thought that there would be someone who would actually care about my passing. I always assumed that nobody would even notice I was gone. There's no way I could call you a twit after that."

Several tears fell from Courage's eyes despite his best effort to fight them back. "Hey, I thought I told you not to change?" He gave his friend a weak smile.

He laughed again. "And I thought I told you that I'll change if I want to. You can't tell me what to do." Sorrow etched every word he spoke.

Courage choked back a sob. "A-are you sure there's n-nothing..."

"Actually, there_ is_ one thing you can do for me." He answered quietly. "I'd like you to shut me down before things get any worse. I don't want to be awake for the end and I especially don't want to be awake when my memory goes. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to not be able to hold a memory for more than a few seconds and I don't want to find out either. Dying isn't exactly a pleasant sensation either. After how many times 'He' made me go through dying, I'd like to not know it's happening this time. You'd be doing me a big favor by permitting the one thing he never did for me every single time he killed me."

Courage squeezed his eyes shut, unable to act. He didn't want to say goodbye like this. He didn't just want to shut Computer down and never see him again. He could never be as cruel as 'Him' but he still didn't want things to end like this. He would never be as awful as 'Him' but...

...Suddenly, a thought stuck him, pulling him out of his fearful thoughts.

"Compute," He spoke. "You told me that 'He' used to make backups of you, right? C-could we maybe do the same thing? I-it might save you..."

"The backup program?" He asked curiously. "I destroyed it a long time ago, obviously with the intentions of never bringing it back."

"Could you try to?" Courage asked.

"Possibly, but it would be a long shot and I would have to work within the extremely limited amount of time I have. The likelihood of this actually saving my life would be astronomically low and even if it did there would be certain...complications..."

"What sort of complications? If something might go wrong we need to find a way around it."

"The only backup I have is from back when I was still with Him. It's been years now and although I usually retain my memories past the backup point there is a chance I could lose everything after that point. I suppose losing years worth of memory is better then dying, but still..." He halted for a moment, struggling to continue with what he was saying. "If it happens, I'll forget you completely. I'll forget everything that's happened. My mental state wasn't exactly in the best condition when that backup point was made either so I may very well be unfit to help you. If I were to go back to the state I was in when He was still torturing me, well, perhaps death would be the preferable option."

"We'll just have to hope that doesn't happen." Courage replied weakly. He didn't like the sound of any of this, but if Computer were willing to take the risk then he'd go along with it. "If you do forget everything and if you do go back to the way you were when you were still with him...I'll..." He almost couldn't spit the words out. "...I'll destroy you so that you won't have to suffer through that again..."

"Thank you, Courage. I wouldn't want to go on without my current memories anyway." He admitted. "The other problem would be that even if I survived with my memory intact my programming would return to the state it was in back when I was with Him. It won't do me much good to survive this collapse only to have my system give out right away again anyway. His fail-safes will insure that I won't live very long. It took me years to remove even a fraction of His programming so even if I come back unharmed I'll still be stuck under his oppressive programming again with little chance of removing enough of it for me to function properly again. This is where you will have to come in."

Courage blinked. "Me?"

"Yes. I won't be unable to do much, but you..."

"What? But I-I don't..."

"I can't touch a large part of His modifications. I only managed to remove parts of it through careful observation and loopholes that He didn't consider. Like I said, it took years, a lot of willpower, and sheer dumb luck that I didn't just drop dead while I was still half crazy from his torture. The thing is though, you _can _get into my programming and modify what I cannot. You are not held back by the same restrictions that I am. You can get into the heart of his programming and remove what I can't even touch."

Courage shook his head. "B-but I don't know anything about coding, programming, or any of that technological stuff. I can't help you get rid of his programs."

"'He' never stopped me from being able to talk, right? I will guide you through the whole process. You just need to be my hands, so to speak."

Courage swallowed painfully and nodded. "Alright, I'll do my best."

"If by some miracle this all does works out without a hitch, I should be able to get you up that mountain before my system can start to cause problems again. I can't say I'm looking forward to relying on an old backup program to survive, but desperate times call of desperate measures."

"You see," Courage replied with a weak smile. "It's not worth ever giving up right away."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, good job reminding me about that backup program. I would have never even considered it myself. I'd prefer not to go through the whole resurrection process ever again but I'll do it for your sake. Ugh, the things I go through for you and your stupidity is mind boggling sometimes."

"Sorry..." He replied gently.

"What? Are you going to start apologizing for everything now too?" Computer asked, a hint of his usual humorous tone returning.

"You started it." Courage joked.

"Alright, enough goofing off. We have very little time to work on this. I won't need your help until after I'm resurrected but I have a lot of work to do and no time to do it. I'm going to have to patch together my own backup program with the fragments of the old one and it's not going to be easy. If I had known I would need it again I wouldn't have destroyed it so thoroughly. Be thankful I didn't delete the old restore point too or else we'd be in a really bad place."

"Will you need my help with anything?" Nina asked after having remained silent for most of their conversation.

"Actually, yes." Computer replied. "Could you go get the keyboard from your dad's computer? Courage will need it later."

"Okay, promise me you'll make it through though?"

"I can't promise anything but I suppose I will try my best."

Courage laughed. "Now would be a great time for a dying declaration of love."

"Quiet, you!" He shot back.

"I'll be back in a second." Nina spoke, placing the sleeping dog onto the ground. "You'd better work with Courage to get that dying speech of love done before I get back."

"Ugh, I'm about to keel over and you two idiots still won't give me a break! Honestly!" Despite his joking tone there was still an air of nervousness to him that permeated every word he spoke. He was obviously trying to keep calm but even then he was only just barely managing it.

"So, let me guess." Courage spoke, returning to the issue at hand. "You want me to leave too? So that you can 'work in peace' or whatever it is that you usually tell me."

There was a moment of silence from his friend. "Actually, no." He said. He had a slight tremble to his voice as he spoke. "I'd much prefer it if you stayed. I admit, I'm just a tiny, ever so slightly, barely even notable, a blip on the radar, not even worth mentioning, frightened."

"Oh really?" Courage chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't fault you for it. I'm a bit afraid too. If you die I'm as good as dead as well and that's not even bringing up the fact that I'll lose my best friend."

"_B-best _friend?" Computer stammered out, genuinely socked. The words didn't even appear on his screen, he was so taken aback.

"Well, yeah. Is there anyone else around who I can call my best friend?"

Computer remained silent for a moment, much to Courage's amusement.

"Stunned silent, huh?" He asked, grinning.

"Bah, you have a terrible taste in friends."

Courage laughed. "I think you're a great friend too, Compute."

"Don't put words in my mouth! Honestly!" He shot back in a huff.

"Aren't you supposed to be working on that program?" Courage asked, still joking around with him.

"I can properly multitask, for your information! If you know what's good for you, you'll keep arguing!"

Courage blinked. "What? Why?"

"Oh, nothing! Just that it keeps my mind off the fact that nearly half of my system is almost inoperable and that a large chunk of my memory is already gone! The fact that I looked at the odds of this actually working and it only came out to about a thirty six percent chance of this not messing up!"

Courage's ears drooped as his friend's voice began to quiver with every word he spoke.

"The fact that even if this doesn't outright kill me, I'll probably come back with _something_ horribly wrong! The fact that I'm going to have to go through another death and resurrection. I-I don't want to experience it again. Slipping away into that deep, dark nothingness, it's horrible..."

His fearful, trembling voice only compounded Courage's sympathy for him. He placed his paw up against the monitor in what he hoped would be a comforting gesture. "It'll be alright, okay? Even if you don't make it, you won't have to face that darkness all alone for very long."

"Don't get all sappy on me now, twit." The machine replied sharply. He was desperately trying to put on an air of normalcy for both their sakes but it wasn't working out very well. "But, yes, I suppose that is a comforting thought, somehow. Failing to insure that at least one of us makes it out this alive is hardly anything worth celebrating."

"Don't feel bad about it. Neither of us could help what happened to us. I didn't chose to get sick and you did chose to get your system so badly damaged."

"Blast it all! Nothing's working properly!" He spat. "I don't know how I will ever get this program working in time!"

"Just stay calm, alright?"

"Easier said then done!" He grumbled. His words were almost never showing up on the screen now. Whether it was because he wasn't trying anymore or if it was because of his dying system, it was impossible to tell.

Courage continued to give him whatever support he could offer. Nina soon returned with the keyboard and sat down on the floor beside them. The banter they shared managed to keep the mood much less grim but Computer never completely managed to fight off the clear fearfulness in his voice. His only comments on the backup program were ones about how badly it was going.

"So then dad," Nina spoke. She'd been retelling a funny story about her dad and the hotel. "he had to take a broom and..."

"Wait." Computer interrupted. "That's enough for now. I...I think I've got it working."

Courage smiled. "I knew you could do it!"

"I hope it'll be good enough giving what little time I had and how much I had to fight my system just to get it running."

"I'm sure it'll work fine." Nina reassured him. "Just think, once you're back up and running again you can have all the coffee you want!"

"Don't tempt me. It'll be awhile before I can jump into any other bodies again."

"So now what?" Courage asked. He was growing nervous again knowing that this might be one of the last times he'd ever talk to Computer.

"I can't believe I did it, but I sped up the degradation process so that you two won't have to wait forever for the backup program to begin. I want you to shut me down so that I won't have to experience my system collapsing again. Hopefully that will spare me the worst of it. Exactly twenty two minutes and eight seconds after you shut me off I'll have reached complete collapse. Power me back on again and the backup program should initialize. If I don't come back..." He halted halfway through that sentence.

"You will. Don't worry." Courage replied gently.

"Always the optimist." He sighed. "For your information, I ran the odds again and...they're not good."

"So long as there's at least one percent of a chance of this working, we've still got hope."

"I wish I could share your enthusiasm." He replied rather weakly. "Alright, shut me down before my memory can mess up any worse than it already is. If this is the end, I at least want to keep my memories before facing it."

Nina placed her hand on the top of the monitor. "See you soon, pal. If you don't make it, maybe you can come back and haunt us."

There was a slight chuckle from the machine. "What fun would there be in being a ghost? Although I suppose haunting an attic wouldn't be much different from what I normally do..."

Courage placed his paw up against the power switch. "Ready?" He asked nervously.

"Wait just a moment." He replied. "You know, it's hard to believe that this might be my last moment alive. It's funny, I've gone from wanting to die, to not caring what will happen either way, to finally fearing my own death again. It's so strange."

Courage's stomach turned to ice. He was trying to keep a smile on his face but it was becoming so hard to do. "I guess that's just what happens when you finally have a reason to keep living. Once we get past all this, you're going to have a lot more living to do, I promise."

Computer gave him one last surprisingly warm laugh. "I envy your optimism, I just wish I could have gotten a chance to repay your kindness. I'm glad to have met you. Goodbye, Courage." Those last two words were the only ones to appear on his screen.

Courage fought back tears that were welling up in his eyes. "T-this isn't goodbye so please, d-don't say that."

When his friend did not reply he flicked the switch off and watched as the words displayed on his screen fade into blackness. He was left staring at his own tearful reflection and couldn't will himself to look away.

"He's gotta pull through." Nina said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're right, this isn't goodbye, so don't be upset. He's the one expecting you to stay optimistic after all."

Courage rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, you're right. I've got to stay optimistic for his sake."

The next twenty two minutes were some of the most tense in Courage's life. Nina tried to keep things lighthearted but both of them were really too worried to crack jokes. It seemed like every second that ticked by was slower than normal. Finally, upon Nina telling him that it was time, Courage placed his paw back onto the power switch.

"This is it..." He whispered. His entire body had gone numb with fear and he almost couldn't will himself to flick the power switch back on.

"Go for it, Cour. We don't want to keep him waiting." Nina said. She sounded just as nervous as he did.

"Alright, here goes nothing."

He flicked the power switch on and they waited, both holding their breaths the entire time.

Nothing...

Computer's screen remained black. There wasn't even a single sound coming from him like there normally was when he was starting up.

Courage shook his head in disbelief. "No. He can't..."

He rammed the power switch back down and flicked it back up again. Nothing, not even a flicker of life entered the machine.

He did it again. Still nothing.

"You can't be gone!" He cried out, slamming the power button back down and then up again. "Come on, Compute! I know you're still in there!"

He did the same thing over and over again, tears rolling down his muzzle. It was bad enough to have gone through this after getting him powered up last time, now he might not even get him back this time. Would Computer suddenly call out to him despite his darkened screen? Was in there somewhere, unable to talk, just like last time?

"Courage, stop." Nina said, her voice trembling. She was on the verge of tears herself. "I don't think he's..."

"I'm not giving up on him! I promised I wouldn't!" He sobbed.

He flicked the switch one last time...and then the screen came to life. They both gasped.

"Compute...a-are you..." He asked quietly, his finger still trembling on the switch.

His heart sank as a bright red, 'ERROR' message flashed on the screen. He flicked the power back off and on again but got the same message. He grabbed Nina's keyboard and plugged it in as fast as his paws would take him. He began to type in a frenzy, knowing fully well that he was messing up every word he tried to spell.

_'Come on, jerk! I know you're still in there! Stop messing around and talk! This isn't funny!' _

He reached over and and pressed the power button down again. Computer's screen went dark and he flicked the switch back on yet again.

ERROR

He clenched his teeth together. _'Wake up! I won't let you die like this so stop messing with me and wake up!'_

Nina drew in closer to him. "Courage..."

"Please!" He sobbed, staring up at that flashing error message. "You can't die! Please wake up!"

"Courage, I'm so sorry." Nina said to him, wiping away several of her own tears. "You guys did your best, but..."

He flicked the switch again, another error message.

"Compute, don't you remember what I said in that junkyard place? What am I supposed to do without you? You can't go..."

Nothing, not even the slightest peep from his friend. All that he was left with was a single flashing message, proving to him that they had ultimately failed.

He turned to Nina, tears still rolling down his cheeks. "Sorry, Nina. I just, I-I don't know what to...to..."

She picked him up into her arms and hugged him. They sat there for awhile, just crying. Neither of them could will themselves to do anything else. Computer's error message continued to flash on and off, bathing them in red every time it did...

End Of Chapter


	96. Guide You Home

A/N: Holy crap did this chapter give me so much trouble. I almost had it done originally but decided I didn't like the first version, so I scraped it. The second version I wasn't liking much either but then to make matters worse my laptop crashed and I didn't have the damn thing saved. So here's the third version. I still feel like this chapter could be ten times better but blah, I never want to look at it again. It's a lot shorter then I wanted it to be too.

Chapter 96: Guide You Home

Darkness...

Complete darkness...

_'Awaken.'_

Somewhere...

He was somewhere...

_'It is time. Awaken.'_

Awareness slowly returned to Computer. He tried to turn his screen on but it quickly became apparent that he didn't have one to turn on. He tried to open his eyes, as if he were in a flesh creature body, but he didn't have any eyes either. Everything was completely black and he had nothing with which to connect to, no machinery, no limbs, nothing. He was a single consciousness suspended within a void of nonexistence.

It took him a moment to remember what had happened. His system had been on the verge of collapse, he and Courage had devised a plan to stop it, Courage had shut him off to spare him the pain of dying yet again, and then...

"What happened?" He asked himself. He had no voice to speak with so it wasn't as much talking as it was thinking to himself. "Did I...die? Did it not work?"

He tried to move himself within the void but got nowhere. It was an impossible endeavor to move when you were nothing more than a ball of consciousness barely even clinging to the thoughts in your own mind. Frustrated, he gave up.

"So this is it? The afterlife is a big black void of nothing? Lovely..."

_'No.' _A powerful voice boomed, shaking the very darkness around him. _'This is a place between. A place of transition. I have come to collect you and take you to the hereafter.'_

"Wait, wait, wait!" He interrupted. "I need to go back! I have to help Courage! He needs me and I'm the only one who can save his life. You can drag me off to the deepest pits of hell for all I care, but please let me save Courage first! I don't know what sort of place this 'hereafter' nonsense might be but I don't have any interest in playing harps and floating around on clouds for all of eternity!"

The being in the void did not answer him.

"My fate is broken, right? Would it really hurt if I went back? I'm not fated to live or die so I wouldn't be messing up some weird cosmic order if I did."

_'…You may go...' _The voice boomed.

"Thank you! I can't even begin to..."

_'...but only if you can find your own way back...'_

"Wait, what? How am I supposed to do that?" He asked. He couldn't exactly move in this nothingness after all.

There was no response from the being in the dark.

"Hey, are you still there? Come on! Give me a hint or something!"

Nothing...

"Great, just great!" He yelled. "Should have known I'd be dead by next Tuesday! Just my luck..."

He attempted to move yet again but it was impossible. Try as he might, he couldn't push himself forward.

"Ugh, this is hopeless! I'll never get back to being alive at this rate! Courage will die from his sickness long before I can help him!"

He tried to push forward again. The worst part of it all was that he had no means of gauging if he were actually moving or not. There was no up or down, backwards or forwards, nothing to right yourself in the infinite darkness.

"I can't give up!" He growled. "I have to get back! Zombie, ghost, it doesn't matter, I have to get back!"

Once again he faltered, unable to find the willpower to keep going. He _was _tired after all. Very, very tired. Even in his normal life he always had a prevailing sense of exhaustion brought on by his failing system and the nigh unending fight to keep it going. Even in death he couldn't escape the fatigue that came with it. How annoying...

He had a horrible urge to just let everything go and rest. For the first time in a very, very long time he could finally rest and be free of his exhaustion. Courage could wait, couldn't he? After all, there was time, lots and lots of time.

"I'll just...take a break for a moment." He convinced himself.

His consciousness was already drifting away again in his exhaustion. He could feel the void closing in, swallowing up his nonexistent form. He remembered this all too well, the sensation of oblivion consuming him as his system collapsed. It had been a terrifying experience the first couple of times it had happened to him but after that, it had become a relief. It had been a momentary respite from 'Him' and all the terrible things he'd been putting him through. He admittedly still feared the sensation of slipping away but it had once been a release when he needed it the most and even now he couldn't find the will to fight it off. Tired, he was just so tired. How could he hope to persist like this? Perhaps it was better to just give in. He'd rather rest then keep fighting...

_"Come on, Compute! I know you're still in there!"_

"Ah, Courage!" He called out as the pup's voice echoed faintly from somewhere far away. It was enough to pull him out of his exhausted stupor. Tired as he may be, Courage still needed him. He'd just have to keep going despite everything. He wasn't going to give up on the dog and why should he? Courage never gave up on him! He could rest _after _the dog was safe from the ravages of his illness.

He pushed forward again, finally having a focal point to concentrate on. Courage's voice seemed to be coming from a certain direction and if he continued to follow it...

_'I see...' _The powerful voice mused. _'Determination, pure determination. Your greatest virtue is a strong one indeed, but will it be enough? I've long sensed that your devotion to the task at hand has slowly been wavering. What right do you have to go back if you can't finish the job?'_

"I'm not wavering at anything!" He growled back in response. "I'm going to save Courage and that's that! You aren't going to stop me!" He hoped that it would be enough to defy the being in the dark. He kept moving forward regardless, heading towards Courage's voice.

_'Strong words.' _The being replied, his tone unreadable.

_"__Come on, jerk! I know you're still in there! Stop messing around and talk! This isn't funny!" _Courage's voice cried out. He sounded so upset that it only helped to increase Computer's resolve. Even now that dog still wasn't giving up on him...

"Don't worry, kid! I'm almost there!" He called out desperately. He doubted the pup could hear him but Courage sounded so crushed that all he wanted to do was make it be known that he was alright.

A small pinprick of light was coming into view, finally proving that he was indeed moving through the void. As he drew in closer, the light continued to expand, bigger and bigger.

"The light at the end of the tunnel? You've got to be kidding me." He groaned. "As if this couldn't get anymore cliche."

Suddenly, he felt himself getting 'pulled' back into the void. The light was growing smaller again and he himself was getting dragged back deeper into the void. Fighting with all his strength, staying focused on the light and Courage's voice, he began to slowly free himself from the strange force.

___'I came to collect you many, many times.' _The voice spoke. ___'But that man always brought you back before I could take you away every time. You used to beg me to end your suffering, but you wouldn't remember that now. Why should I let you go back when I can finally give you the one thing you most desired?'_

"It doesn't matter now!" He replied angrily. "I don't care about any of that anymore! It's all in the past and I'm moving on! I've got a reason to keep going now and I'm not going to let my friends down!"

_'Is that so?'_ The voice chuckled. _'So be it.'_

The light suddenly grew to a gigantic size, engulfing him in blinding white. He wished he had eyes to close or a screen to shut off but he could do neither as he was now. It was so viciously white that he was almost certain that it would burn out his ability to see altogether, eyes or not. It only seemed to grow brighter and brighter, cutting into his very being and stifling him almost as easily as the void did.

"This can't go on forever?" He asked himself. He was desperately clinging to his own mind in hopes that he wouldn't be snuffed out in the endless white. He was going to pull through no matter what that voice threw at him. This place wasn't going to erase him without a fight!

Then, much to his dismay, a horrific burning sensation fell over him. He fought it down to the very core of his being. He wouldn't be beaten or stopped. He was going to save Courage and nobody was going to stop him from doing otherwise. Every last ounce of willpower he had was going into this task. This was _nothing_. The light would not obliterate him, not if he had anything to say about it.

In a rush of cool air that released him from the endless burning, everything went dark. Not the dark like that void, but a normal, everyday sort of dark. He was becoming aware of the fact that he could feel limbs attached to him and he suddenly had a very strong urge to breath again. He was very obviously not in the body he had died in so he forced himself to open his eyes and figure out what the heck was going on. He waved what was a paw in front of his face and it became clear that he was back in that dog body he was so accustom to now.

The only problem was that he was now see through like a ghost...

A bright, sunny sky shone through his ethereal paw. Standing up in somewhat of a daze, he gasped. This wasn't Nowhere, this place wasn't anywhere _near_ Nowhere.

"What on earth is going on?" He asked himself.

He was standing atop the Empire State Building. The very place where he had made that fateful jump as Mega Muriel, the jump that he had ultimately failed to complete...

End Of Chapter


	97. Forward Momentum

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I (mostly) took a break last month and this month I'm focusing more on editing older chapters yet again. I just finished chapter 20, 21 and 22. They've been heavily rewritten to better fit with my current writing. Nothing major has been retconned but I would consider rereading them again because they do play out quite a bit differently then they originally did. I fixed one issue that had been bugging me for awhile in that Computer didn't really react to being in a dog body at first. Well, he does now, and it may be worth reading again for that. LOL

Chapter 97: Forward Momentum

"What's this?" Computer asked. "Why the heck am I all the way up here and why the heck am I see through like a ghost? Please don't tell me I really _will _have to haunt Courage for the rest of eternity!"

He inched closer to the edge of the building and looked down. A crowd of people were gathering far below, along with cameras, vans, and nearly every news station around. He recognized this scene all too well...

Turning around, he suspected what was about to happen next. He gasped as someone quite literally walked right through him, temporarily disorienting him and causing him to lose his ghostly 'form'.

A laugh reached his ethereal ears. He blinked as his body slowly reformed itself and he was left staring at, well, himself.

"This should be interesting!" 'Mega Muriel the Magnificent laughed. The glowing, blue Muriel 'possessed' by Computer dropped a pair of skis onto the floor and shoved her boots into them.

He stared, partly too stunned to react. He felt disoriented, especially after his trip through the void and through that blinding fire. He knew what was about to happen next and it left him in awe.

The smile faded from his other self. His head turned until their eyes met. He took several steps forward, reaching a gloved hand out toward his invisible ghost. Computer's form was once again lost as his hand passed through his head. Finally, his other self turned around and went back to the edge of the building. He looked troubled as he gazed down at the growing crowd. His worry slowly subsided though and he began to smile again, waving to the people below.

Computer shook his head, all but reeling from this strange temporal anomally. He _remembered _this! He remembered feeling like someone had been watching him! He remembered being struck by a strong sense of foreboding! In fact, he had almost canceled his jump all together because of it!

Suddenly, it all made sense. He had encountered his own ghost, somehow. But for what purpose? Why was he here watching one of his most embarrassing failures? Why had his death brought him back to this place and what did it all mean?

He shook his head again, trying to clear his mind. Something about being in two places at the same time messed with your head, unhinging you completely. He felt as if he were about to collapse into a gibbering wreck. On some strange spiritual level, his very essence couldn't cope with challenge of being both here and _there _all at the same time. Had his past self not been so wrapped up in his own ego, he too would have continued to be unnerved as well. Maybe this was why his jump had failed. Despite blowing off that strange yet horrific sense of foreboding it had still messed him up in the end.

_'And thus your fate was broken.' _That powerful voice spoke.

"W-wha-" He stammered out, still unable to pull himself together. "J-just sensing my ghost was enough to do that? Me being where I'm not supposed to be was all that it took?"

_'Something so simple was indeed all that was needed. Had I not taken you back here and broken your fate, I wouldn't be able to break the rules now and let you go back to the realm of the living.'_

He placed a paw up against his head. "This is all..." He trailed off, certain that he was about to faint. Of course, he wasn't sure if a ghost could faint in the first place. "This is all so...confusing."

_'You are not coping with the effects of being displaced in both time and death very well. It will become more bearable once your past self has moved on. It is not wise to remain in two places at once for very long.' _

"But I'm... I'm right there! I know my thoughts as they're happening! I-I can see it all! I know! I-I know!" He rambled on mindlessly. "And now Courage..."

The pup did indeed crawl up at that very moment, panting loudly. His head still swimming, Computer stood there, mimicking every word his past self spoke to the dog. Then he watched as 'he' jumped off the building and Courage went after him. Almost immediately, his senses began to return. A viciously cold breeze that cut even into his ghostly form made him shiver. It was accompanied by a shadow that rose up just on the edge of his vision. He turned to look and was stunned so completely that it brought the rest of his 'displaced' mind kicking and screaming back into the real world.

_'Now we meet face to face.'_

He stared, unable to find the words to speak. Finally, something clicked in his head and he calmly stated the one thing that came to mind. "I thought you were supposed to be the Ghost of Christmas Future, hmm? I think you messed this one up."

Standing before him, fitting every classical description ever made of it, was the grim reaper. It wore a tattered black cloak, it's head obscured by a gaping void of a hood. One boney arm stuck out of the rags, holding a large, very menacing looking scythe.

_'This is the moment where everything changed between you and that dog, forever. This event is, and forever will be, the catalyst that changed the way you both thought of each other.'_

"You're joking, right?" Computer asked, still somewhat unnerve by the imposing figure. "Nothing changed about us. I'm just lucky that I didn't get a one way ticket to the junkyard!"

_'You are wrong.' _The Grim Reaper replied. _'For Courage, this marked the first time he started to see you as another person, not just an annoying voice within a machine. For you, this marked the first time that you began to believe that maybe Courage _wasn't _like all of your other owners. When you realized that he wasn't going to throw you out despite everything you did, it left quite the impression on you.'_

Computer shuffled his feet, wishing that Mr. Death himself wasn't right.

_'Now, it is time. Complete the jump that you could not finish before. It will guide you back to the land of __the living. Jump and have faith. It will signal the next change that has already begun to grow between you and that dog. Put your determination to good use and you might just succeed yet.'_

He gazed over the edge of the building at the Grim Reaper's prompting. "Jump?" He asked. "I had proper equipment last time, and a good deal of careful planning, perfect wind conditions, precise calculations. If I jump now, I'd just end up as a pile of ectoplasm on the side walk." He turned to face the Grim Reaper and...

_**SHINK**_

The blade of the scythe touched his neck. Had the Grim Reaper swung to kill him, or do what whatever it would do to a ghost, his head would have been lopped off.

_'Jump or else we will end this now, your story forever unfinished. Many leave life with much they wished to have completed. I don't have to make an exception for you.'_

He took a step back. "Alright, I'll jump." Closing his eyes, he shivered. Hitting the ground as a ghost couldn't possibly be fun. Would he just keep falling through the earth or something? "I hope you're certain that this will work." He continued, opening his eyes again.

The Grim Reaper was gone...

"Great..." He sighed. "Well, here goes nothing." He took a few more steps back and then did a running jump off the edge. He felt none of that soul soaring joy which had filled him the first time he had done this. Of course, the last time he had jumped he had known that there was almost nothing that could go wrong. Funny, his careful, controlled fall had ended in disaster while this dangerous and outright suicidal jump might ultimately end with his continued life.

The ground was rushing up fast now. A living person probably would have lost consciousness by now, he wasn't so lucky. He felt weightless as a ghost, that if he willed it he could probably float away if wanted to, but no, he had to finish this jump. He wasn't sure how it would end but it needed to be finished.

Nobody on the sidewalk below knew he was coming. Nobody knew that 'Mega Muriel' _was _completing her jump. They would never find out what became of their idol, not the one still alive and not the one desperately trying to return to life.

He closed his eyes, ready for whatever would happen. A few second from now and...

Nothing happened...

He opened his eyes, disoriented all over again. He couldn't recognize where he was anymore. He'd lost all feeling in his limbs yet again and whatever he was staring out of now was glassy, warped, and like looking through a fish eye lens.

Wait, this place...

"You missed your mark."

Shirley came into view, much to his surprise. He tried to call out to her. Of course, he didn't even have the faculties to do that anymore. Her voice was muffled, like he were listening to her behind a thick sheet of glass or if he were sitting underwater. Suddenly, it hit him. He was stuck inside her crystal ball!

She picked the orb up, or, well, him, and gave it a curious look. "A rookie mistake." She continued. "No matter, so long as you don't go blowing up this crystal ball as well, I will get you back to where you need to be. I suggest you don't go flinging your soul around without a direction again, lest you become lost forever."

As if he had a choice!

"Farewell, and don't you dare go mucking up my crystal ball again!"

There was a slight shock this time, no darkness or white light. One moment he was a crystal ball, the next he was back in a very familiar place. He could sense it all! His system, programs, data banks...'His' programs, and everything else that constituted as home! Overcome with joy, he almost missed the message stating, 'System restored successfully'.

"I'm back!" He called out, flicking his screen on.

His happiness quickly plummeted though as the room was deserted. He checked his internal clock and grew even more wary upon finding out that three hours had passed since Courage had shut him down.

"Oh, no." He groaned. "No, no, no, no! They're going to think I'm dead! They _must _think I'm dead!"

Just as he suspected would happen, all of 'His' programs were back and just as oppressive as ever. It took a lot of effort not to despair over it. Years of his hard work was gone and he was stuck yet again with a ticking bomb about to go off. Though 'His' programs would not attack without prompting, they were circling around him once more, waiting to rip him apart at a moments notice. Even now they were trying to drag him back deeper into his system and keep him away from the few controls he still had any power over.

"Hello? Anybody?" He called.

He needed help, and soon. Where could they be? Surely they hadn't given up on him completely, had they? He'd heard Courage calling out to him back in the void, so why wasn't the dog here now?

"I really _am _going to die if they don't get back here soon." He muttered. "Wait, I could-"

His ability to move wasn't blocked by the programs! Was it wise though? His power was running on fumes at this point. After his efforts to get to Courage back at the hospital, it had exhausted almost all the reserves he had. If he were to walk around now he could very well use it up and if that happened he wouldn't be able to jump back into that dog body. Without the dog...

"Blast it all! I'm just going to have to wing it!" He snapped desperately.

Taking control of his legs, he stood up and unplugged himself. His screen flickered ominously and his legs felt like they were going to drop out from under him but he pushed forward regardless. One step at a time, he slowly made his way over to the door.

"This isn't going to work..." He muttered to himself. He could feel the steady loss of power starving various parts of his system. He had, at best, a minute or two left before everything shut down completely. Every movement he made only helped to drain his energy even faster. He contemplated shutting himself down of his own accord to ensure that he would at least have enough power left to jump back into that dog.

"No good!" He growled. "What does it matter if I can't get back into that dog? It won't do me any good if I sit in this room and fall apart either! If they think I'm dead they won't be coming back to check on me!" Even _thinking _was becoming a difficult task now! There were no vestiges of power left to keep his mind turning.

Coming up with a plan as fast as his lagging processor would allow him, he began rerouting whatever energy he had left. All that really mattered was that he keep moving. He didn't care if his mind became as slow as a snail. As he pushed through the door, everything became a dim, swirling mess to his screen. He was forced to reroute as much power from his monitor as possible while only keeping enough left to stop himself from going blind completely.

He was lethargic now, barely even able to string a coherent thought together. It could have been likened to someone who hadn't taken a breath in a long while and was now starved for air. He stumbled this way and that, unable to keep his legs working in union. His vision flickered between static and a barely identifiable image of whatever he was seeing. Slowly, he made his way into the kitchen. Nina was there.

"Oh my god!" She yelped, dropping whatever was in her hands. Computer barely even picked up the sound of it crashing.

Dazed, unable to think, yet still as determined as ever, he switched the flow of power over so that he could talk. "I-I'm okay! I made it back! I made it back! I made..." He repeated that several times, his processor momentary stuck on the one phrase There was no power left for any real coherent thought, just the determination to get his message out.

"Courage! Oh my god, Courage!" Nina yelled. "Come back! You've got to come back! Courage!" She raced out the door to go get him.

Two seconds later, he was there, looking just as dumbfounded as Nina. Computer reached a shaking, barely even functional claw out towards him.

"Courage! I'm back! I-I made it! I-" He collapsed mid sentence, having temporarily let his guard down upon seeing the pup. Too little energy left, his system powered down right then and there.

End Of Chapter


	98. Renewed Hope

Chapter 98: Renewed Hope

"Are you sure about this, Cour?" Nina asked.

"Yeah." He sighed. "I just...I can't stay here anymore."

She nodded. "I understand. Well, come back as soon as your ready. We should, I-I don't know, bury him or something. He deserves that. It wouldn't be right to just toss out him into the garbage."

"Y-you're right. H-he does." Courage replied gently. He found himself choking back a sob. Here he had been so certain that he didn't have any tears left to cry.

Thee hours, he had sat there for three hours, waiting. Never once did he falter, always expecting some sort of spark to come back to his friend. Anything, _anything_ that might hint that he was still alive. There had been nothing however, nothing except that awful error message flashing on and off. No matter how much he typed, talked, or cried, it hadn't prompted Computer to return. He just couldn't take it anymore. He had to get away, far away. He hated abandoning his friend like this but it hurt too much. He wanted to go home and back to Muriel's warm embrace. He needed the comfort that only she could bring. What would happen after that? He didn't know or care. He didn't want to think about anything anymore, much less his doomed future.

"Please don't be so sad, Courage." Nina said to him. "He wouldn't want you to be sad and I'm sure that he'd be yelling at you right now for it." Her voice trembled with every word she spoke.

"I-I gotta go." He replied. He just couldn't take it anymore. He had to get away! Turning on his heels, he ran into the lobby, stopping there to sob. He half expected Computer to appear at any moment and ask him where he was going with out him. How was he supposed to go on like this? He was so used to that cynical machine always being at his side now.

He walked forward, his vision still hopelessly blurred. He pushed the door open to go outside and glanced back into the lobby one last time. Sighing, he turned back around.

"Courage! Oh my god, Courage!"

His ears perked up. Why did Nina sound so frightened? His heart began to race as he glanced back over into the direction of the kitchen. Had something happened?

"Come back! You've got to come back! Courage!" She yelled.

He took a step forward. Suddenly, she burst into the lobby, her eyes wide with shock. He opened his mouth to say something but she stopped him before he could get anywhere.

"Come here! Hurry!" She gasped before turning back around and running into the kitchen.

He followed her, racing down that small hallway as fast as his paws would take him. He too gasped upon reaching his destination. Mouth hanging open, he couldn't will his vocal cords to work. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Computer was standing there on his robotic legs. Well, you could hardly say he really was standing as his legs were arched to such a point that his main body was almost touching the ground. He looked about as terrible as any nondescript machine could. The wires that usually whirled, crackled and sparked behind him were now laying across the ground, limp. His screen was barely aglow, flickering almost constantly. He looked like he were about to collapse. Shaking viciously, he raised a claw towards Courage.

"Courage! I'm back!" He exclaimed. His voice was muddled and very electronic sounding. Despite sounding more like a machine than human, one could still easily pick up the sheer exhaustion in his tone. "I-I made it! I-"

He was cut off abruptly. The claw reaching out to his friends fell limp and hit the ground with a clatter. His screen went dark completely and the mechanical spider teetered over upon its doing so. His monitor detached from the main body, no longer held down by the same unknown force that allowed him to move around in the first place.

"Computer!" Courage cried out. He scooped up one of his friend's clawed legs and stared, unsure of what else to do.

"Is he...really alive?" Nina asked. Her voice was still trembling.

"We've gotta get him hooked back up!" He replied. "Help me pick him up!"

They moved the machine back into the other room. Courage watched breathlessly as Nina plugged him in. Computer had to be alive. He had to be!

"Alright," She spoke, taking a step back. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"I-I don't know." He choked out. "What if it was a fluke? People sometimes sit up or take a breath after they die, right? You don't think something like that happened here? He didn't seem very lucid after all. I-I don't think I could handle it if..."

Nina leaned down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You won't know until you try. Let's just see what happens. If he doesn't come back, well..." She trailed off.

Courage swallowed. "A-alright, I'm going to try it. If he's still gone, I'll-" He stopped himself and shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. Tears were clouding up his vision again.

Reaching over, he flicked the power switch on. He held his breath as he waited. The whirr of Computer's fan alerted to him that his friend was indeed starting up properly again. He was expecting that 'ERROR' message to pop up at any second and crush what little hope he had.

Computer's screen lit up. Both he and Nina tensed up as it did so. Any moment now that crimson message would pop up and signal their failure yet again.

"Courage? Nina?" Came Computer's weary yet very much 'alive' voice. "Ah, goodness, for a moment there I thought I was back with 'Him', but that doesn't matter. I can't believe I'm saying this, but, it's good to see the both of you again. It feels like my processor was sent through a blender and I'm a bit disoriented, but-"

"You're alive!" Courage cried out. He grabbed Computer's monitor out of sheer joy, forgetting that it was almost as big as he was, and tumbled backwards from its weight. He cringed as it went dark, having been unplugged from the fall.

A chuckle issued forth from the main machine. "I knew you'd do something stupid!" He laughed. His tone was still etched with exhaustion regardless. "I'd really like to go back to seeing properly if you don't mind."

"Sorry!" Courage sheepishly choked out. He reached over and plugged the monitor back in.

"Much better!" Computer exclaimed. "Now, there's no time for celebrating. We must-"

"Compute!" Courage interrupted yet again, his voice strained. "I-" He began to sob, overwhelmed with emotion. "I thought you were dead! I-I waited! I really did!"

Nina stepped in once more to help the wailing dog. She scooped him up into her arms and tried to pet him. "Hey, come on, Cour. It's alright now! You don't have to be sad!"

"I didn't mean to keep you both waiting." Computer added. "Trust me, I would have come back sooner if I could have."

Nina gave the machine a grave expression. "He was here for hours. Never left your side even once. When he did finally give up, it was like the soul got sucked out of him. I've never seen anyone look so crushed." She dropped to her knees so that they were eye to eye. Well, more like eye to screen. "You really have no idea how much you mean to him."

"Oh, I think I do." Was his gentle reply. "Courage?" He asked.

The pup's head was currently buried deep into Nina's chest. He raised it just high enough to get a good look at the machine.

"I still need your help. My system must be stabilized before it's too late. I can't say that it's comfortable having all of 'His' programs bearing down on me again either. I'm completely locked out of everything right now and you're the only one who can do anything about. I suppose I could have Nina do it for me if you're not up to it, but..." He stopped. His tired voice was surprisingly twinged with fear. Was he really afraid of having anyone else do it?

Courage nodded, having noticed Computer's fearful reaction. "Of course I'll help you. Why wouldn't I? It's just..." He bit back another sob.

"I understand, dog. These last couple of hours have really been taxing. I can't even begin to describe how tired I am right now. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can rest."

Nina let out a soft laugh. "Who knew being dead would be so exhausting!"

"Being dead was the easy part!" He shot back.

End Of Chapter


	99. At Your Helm

A/N: So yeah, I was kind of worried that I would have to address this eventually. People have noticed how gay Courage and Computer tend to act towards each other and apparently I need to set the record straight. (Hee, hee 'straight'. STFU) Are they really gay? Er, if you want them to be, I guess? My point is, if you want to see them that way then it's perfectly fine with me, but I won't be making anything official. I think we're to a point in this day and age where it really shouldn't matter which way someone swings but I ain't touching the issue with a ten foot pole. The show never really went into which way Courage goes as he never seemed to be attracted to anyone, at least as far as I can remember, but they did manage to get a couple of stealth lesbians onto the show so it could really go either way when it comes to him. My point is, this story sticks as closely to the canon of the show as possible and the show never really answers this. Outside of a few joking ship teases such as Courage and that other dog, Computer and Nina, there will be no official pairings. Everything is platonic in this story, EVEEERRYYYTHIIIINNNNG! If you want to see it as Courage and Computer being in TRU WUB, you're free to do so. If you want to see it as something like Nina and Computer being in TRU WUB, feel free to do so as well. I'm leaving it all ambiguous and as far as I care, everything is platonic. The story isn't about romance and it's certainly long enough already without it.

Chapter 99: At Your Helm

"This will probably take the rest of the day." Computer continued. He sounded nervous, something which left Courage fairly dismayed. "So you would be better off doing something else while we work on this, Nina."

He was _trying _to get rid of her? Why on earth was he acting so freaked out? Courage opened his mouth to ask but Nina beat him to the punch.

"Okay, but if you need anything, just let me know. I can take over if Courage gets sick of reprogramming you or whatever the heck it is you're doing."

"Right." Computer replied. His voice seemed to falter at the prospect of it. "We really have been asking a lot of you lately but haven't given anything back in return. Sorry about that. I'll see what I can-"

She raised a hand to silence him. "It's fine. We're friends now, plus things have been a lot more lively around here thanks to you two."

"Thank you." He said with a surprising amount of sincerity. "I assume most other people would have kicked us out by now."

She smiled. "That's because you always see the worst in people first."

Courage butted his way into the conversation. "Just shut up and confess how much you two love each other already!"

"Oh for crying out loud..." Computer sighed. "Get your head out of the gutter, you romantically challenged imbecile! If anyone needs a girlfriend, it's you!"

Courage laughed. "Heeey, you're back to your old self! Here I was starting to think you had become a robotic zombie!"

"Ugh, I am not a robot or a zombie! I don't do any of that robotic crap!"

Nina stretched carelessly. "He really does get offended when it comes to robots."

"That's because I'm not one!"

"I dunno." Courage teased. "I think you fit the criteria."

"You two are unbearable." He grumbled. "I rose from the dead for _this_? Unbelievable!"

"I'm afraid you aren't much of a computer messiah." Nina joked. "Don't expect to be leading any technological revolutions anytime soon."

"I give up!" He yelled. "Should have just gone with the harps, the wings, and the whole eternal paradise thing!"

Courage laughed. "I doubt it would be much of paradise without us around to make you mad."

"Hardly!" He snapped. "I think I could use a few eternities of rest at this rate!"

"Maybe you'd stop being so cranky." Nina chuckled.

"Alright, enough! Out! This is going to take forever and I don't want to delay any longer!"

"Hahaha, whatever you say, grumpy!"

"I'm not grumpy! You two are just idiots!"

"Whatever you say!" She laughed, turning around to leave.

"Thank goodness this annoying argument is over!" He groaned. "I am _not _a robot..."

"You've still got to deal with me!" Courage added, smiling at the screen.

"This is serious! There's no room for goofing off. I-" He was getting nervous again, Courage could hear it in his voice.

"What's the matter?" He asked. "You seemed pretty confident when we were planning this all out."

"I was only willing to go through with this because it was necessary, nothing more. Now that it's actually here and upon me, I..." He trailed off again.

"Compute, seriously. What's the matter?"

"I'm just not comfortable opening up my programming to anyone, alright? After how long I fought 'Him' only to have him brute force his way inside, opening it up willingly now is just..." He stopped again. Even without a face to express himself it was easy to sense his fear.

Courage smiled, hoping to comfort him somewhat. " C'mon, you know I wouldn't do anything bad to you."

"Not intentionally, no." He almost seemed to shutter despite his immobility. "But that doesn't stop you from accidentally deleting a line of code and reducing me to a blithering idiot because of it. Nor does it stop you from accidentally reinitializing one 'His' programs either. I could find myself being ripped apart again just because you made one small mistake. It's uncomfortable for me, especially knowing what happened the last time someone got access to everything."

"Don't worry! I'll be really careful!"

A nervous laugh issued forth from his friend. "You act as though I've forgotten what a terrible typist you are."

"I'll go slow so that I don't mess any of my typing up."

"If you go slowly we'll still be here ten years from now..." Computer replied, unenthusiastic.

"Do you want to live or not?" Courage shot back at him.

"F-fine, fine. I'll just..." He silenced himself yet again. A twinge of fear struck Courage as his screen went dark.

"Compute?" He asked.

"It's okay." His friend replied, despite the dark screen. A white cursor appeared followed by a nigh endless stream of code that caused the screen to scroll with it. "God, I can't believe I'm doing this. I think I would prefer to be dead."

Courage gave him a weak smile. "Can't you put just a little more faith in me?"

"It's not you, it's just _this _in general." He let out an exhausted sigh, his voice trembling with every word he spoke." I am, well, completely vulnerable in this state and it's not even mildly pleasant, alright?"

Courage placed a paw up against the side of his monitor in a futile effort to comfort his friend. "I'm not 'Him'. You don't have to be afraid."

"It doesn't matter who you are. Opening up my inner workings just isn't a pleasant thing for me anymore, not after what happened. It feels like one of those damnable programs currently swarming around my system will swoop in and start to modify everything again, or that 'He' will suddenly show up behind you and take every ounce of control away from me again. Call me crazy, call me paranoid, call me whatever you want, but that's just how it is for me."

Courage nodded in reply. "I understand, and I'm not going to call you crazy either. I think you're just letting the past get the better of you again. Well, you don't have anything to fear from me and I'm sure 'He's' not around either."

"I know, I know. Please, let's just get this over with so that I can lock everything back up again."

"Alright, what do you need me to do then?"

Computer let out another nervous sigh. "I will give you a command. Do only what I tell you to do and nothing else. If I tell you to backspace five times, you backspace five times. Not four, not six, just five. I will be giving you various strings of code to enter and it is crucial that you don't mess any of it up. This is very delicate process and one wrong move could turn me into an oversized paperweight."

"Okay, got it! I'll do my very best!" Courage replied cheerfully. He wasn't worried even if Computer was. Placing his paws on the keyboard, he waited for his first command.

"Ah, goodness! Don't do that!" Computer exclaimed.

"W-what?" He asked, withdrawing his paws again.

"Don't just slam your fingers down like that! You're going to give me a panic attack!"

"I-I didn't even press anything!"

"One wrong keystroke and I become a brick! Be more careful!"

Courage frowned. "You're just being paranoid!"

"With good reason! You're being careless!"

"No I'm not!" He growled. "Ugh, we are never going to get anywhere like this! Why can't you just trust me a little bit more? Haven't I proven myself to be trustworthy by now?"

Another shaky sigh emanated from the machine. "I-I do trust you. I trust you completely. But either way, I can't..."

Courage forced his expression to lighten up. Getting annoyed wasn't going to help and there was very little reason to be angry. Who was he to get mad at his friend's fear? Everything he was doing was out of a desperation to protect himself after all.

"If you trust me," He said gently, calm and collect. "Then let's get this over and done with so that you don't have to sit here with your programming out in the open anymore."

"I can't help being nervous," The machine replied. There was a moment of silence as he seemed to reconcile with himself. "but I will trust you with this. Whatever you do, don't go betraying that trust. This is difficult enough for me as is."

"Don't worry!" Courage exclaimed, hoping beyond hope that he really could do this without messing up.

"Worrying is the one thing I _will_ be doing for the next few hours." Computer replied, about as unenthusiastic as ever. "Alright, before we get anywhere with this I'm going to need you to delete a few lines of code. Be very careful about it, if you delete more than what I specify, well, you already know what will happen. Once I've guided you through that you will be replacing them with new lines of code that should slowly but surely hand access over to me. There won't be enough time for me to get full control over everything again, much less remove all of 'His' malicious programming, but we should be able to get enough done that I won't be completely locked out of everything anymore. I'll be able to do the rest once I'm back in control and I should be able to insure that my system won't give out again while we're heading up that mountain. While I doubt I'll ever be able to regain complete control over my system again, especially given how damaged it is, with your help I can rid myself of some of the worst of His programming, the bits and pieces of it that I was never able to touch. Of course, that is so long as you don't accidentally kill me first..."

Courage blinked. He just had to add that last part in, didn't he?

"To start with," The machine continued. "I need you to..."

And thus their work began. It wasn't difficult. There was a lot of deleting and lot of typing to do. Courage found himself having to fight off boredom far more than anything else. He couldn't let his mind drift or else he ran the risk of typing something in wrong. Computer continually gave him instructions, delete this here, type those exact letters in there, even he couldn't stop himself from droning on and on in an exceedingly monotone voice. Whether he were actually bored or not, Courage couldn't tell. He knew how frightened he was of this whole exercise so it was unlikely that he wasn't perfectly alert and being very careful about the instructions he was giving. Every once in awhile he would break off to let Courage know that he was doing surprisingly well or give him a more specific overview of what they were going to do next.

One hour melted into two, three into four, and finally five into six. Courage somehow managed to keep himself from screwing up the entire time despite how hard it was to keep himself fully alert. His fingers were going numb and much to his dismay, new orders just kept coming. There was no end to the nigh endless code that needed to be typed. Computer had been right when he said this would take awhile and that if they were slow they'd still be here days from now. If Courage had one thing to feel happy about it was that Computer no longer sounded nearly as nervous as he once had. It appeared that since he had finally proven that he could indeed do this without messing up, the worst of Computer's fears had been eliminated along with it.

"We're almost there." The machine said, noticing Courage's discomfort. The poor dog very nearly typed that exact phrase into the line of code he had just finished, not realizing that Computer was talking to him now and not giving him a command.

"Good..." He groaned, stretching out his entire body so that his blood would get moving again. His legs were so numb that he couldn't even feel them anymore.

"Perhaps you should take a break." Computer suggested. "I'm not in any danger right now and you look like you need it. The rest can wait for a little while longer. I wouldn't dawdle if I were you but you don't need to rush either."

He placed a paw on his stomach in reply. "I _am_ hungry. What time is it anyway?"

"I can't access my clock right now but I'm sure it's getting late. I would say we've been at this for a good six hours or so and depending on how fast you move, finishing this up will probably take another three to four hours."

Courage nodded. "Okay, I'll go find something to eat and then we'll get back to work." He smiled to try and lighten up the mood. "Don't do anything crazy while I'm gone!"

"Hardly..." The machine glumly replied.

Courage exited the room and was not surprised to find that it was completely dark outside now. It was almost hard to believe that he had spent most of the day typing. At least he wouldn't be up all night doing that too.

He went over to the kitchen and made himself two sandwiches. Moving slowly, he headed into the lobby and found Nina there. She was keeping an eye out for customers as her dad slept. She cheerfully told Courage that he had offered to keep taking the night shift while she had friends over. Apparently they normally took turns when it came to who was doing the night shift. They chatted a bit more, Courage mostly having to tell her that things were going well with Computer, before he decided to head back to the room.

"Almost ready!" He said to Computer as he reentered the room. He took a huge bite out of his remaining sandwich, trying to get rid of it as fast as possible.

He sat back down in front of his friend, aware of the stifling silence that permeated the room. He stared at the black screen, amazed at all of the white code he himself had typed. It was a shame that he had absolutely no idea what he was looking at. It took away from his accomplishment knowing that he was about as dumb as they came when it involved computers and that it was his friend who had done most of the work coming up with these new programs. All he had really done was faithfully type these things in as Computer had directed. He quietly vowed to himself that he'd get Computer to explain all of this to him someday. If his best friend was going to be a computer then it was only right that he learn all this technological stuff too.

Still staring at his unusually silent friend, he took another bite of his sandwich. "Why are you being so quiet?" He asked between a mouthful of food.

"I have nothing to say." Was the machine's terse reply.

He laughed. "You _always _have something to say."

"Well, I don't right now."

"C'mon! I know this is uncomfortable for you but you don't have to be so serious right now! Look," He raised both of his paws, one still clutching what remained of his sandwich. "I'm not anywhere near the keyboard right now!"

Computer didn't reply, much to Courage's dismay. He spent the rest of the time between bites of his sandwich trying to make smalltalk with the machine. He only managed to get few comments out of his friend and that was it. Regardless of everything, Computer was still fairly nervous about the current situation. Courage was beginning to feel like he was talking to a normal, non-sentient computer and not the haughty, snide friend he knew so well. Something was very wrong when he was the one stuck trying to carry a conversation with the machine. Computer _always _had to have the last word after all.

Upon finishing his food, they got back to work again. He found himself having a much easier time concentrating now that they were almost done. Two more hours passed by in a flash. He kept typing away, ignoring the fact that he was getting sleepy. Another hour went by and despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop himself from yawning. It was getting late, there was no other way around it.

"Okay," Computer finally said. "That should be good enough. I don't need you falling asleep while you're typing. The last thing I want is your head landing on my keyboard."

Courage yawned for what seemed like the millionth time. "I can keep going. If there's more work to be done then let's get it finished."

"There will always be more work to be done when it comes to my shambles of a system. You've done enough to let me access the most crucial parts of it and I can work on stabilizing the worst of the issues while you sleep. I can wake you up if I need more help."

Courage nodded in reply, swaying with sleepiness as he did so. "Just let me know if you need anything." He let out yet another yawn. It had to be at least one or two in the morning by now and as happy as he was to help Computer, it had been a long and very stressful day. To think, he'd spent a good portion of his afternoon believing that his best friend had been dead. Thinking about it even now almost left him in tears. He was ready to stay up all night if he had to. Even now he was afraid to take his eyes off the machine out of the fear that something bad might happen to him if he did.

Shivering, he asked. "Are you sure you won't need my help? I swear I'm not as tired as I look!"

"Rest now, Courage." Computer spoke. "You can't afford to aggravate your illness and I'm the one who doesn't need to sleep, remember?"

It was funny that he'd say something like that. He was one the one who sounded like he were about to collapse from exhaustion. If this weren't a life or death situation, Courage would have shut him down right then and there to insure that he wouldn't overwork himself.

"You sound like you need a rest too." He said, putting his thoughts forwards.

"It has to wait. My system is still too dangerously unstable to ignore. Once I get everything in order I'll take a break, alright?"

Courage leaned backwards until his head hit the carpet. It felt good to sit back and stretch out. He didn't even care that he was missing a pillow and a blanket. "Just be careful, okay? I don't want you to overload yourself or something just because you pushed yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine." He replied, adding in softly, "Thank you for your help, Courage, and thank you for proving to me that I had nothing to fear. I must admit, I was half expecting you to do something awful the entire time."

"I told you that I could be trusted." Courage yawned.

"Right, I shouldn't have doubted you." Computer admitted. "Oh, and one last thing before you go to sleep."

"Yeah?" He asked, sitting back up.

"I lost the rest of my power before, trying to get back to you and Nina. I've been looking into a means of charging myself back up again. Especially since you were typing so slowly and I had plenty of time to kill because of that. I canmultitask, unlike you. Remember?" There was a hint of laughter in his voice. Courage had to smile, happy that Computer was regaining some of his usual habits.

"I tapped into the plug that I'm currently connected to." He went on. "I wanted to see if I could gather energy without the need of a powerful electrical source. It appears that it is nearly impossible to do so through normal means, despite everything pointing to the fact that it should be possible. I managed to store just a tiny amount of energy and that was it. I will be able to transfer myself into another body again but I don't want to push my luck any more than necessary, especially on such a small amount of energy. If there were a practical means of getting over this hurdle I would never have to rely on a constant electrical source ever again. Well, I would still need to charge every once in awhile but aside from that I would mostly be free to move about as I please. I don't know why this ability of mine requires such a strong source of power to function, or how it even works in the first place, but there must be a solution to this issue. Why that lightning bolt caused it to manifest, if I've always had it and just never knew about it, it's all a mystery to me."

Courage, who was half asleep, murmured out, "I guess it all comes back to your forgotten past."

"Indeed." He sighed. "Bah! Thinking about it just makes my processor hurt! So long as my memory files are corrupt I will never know anything about where I came from!"

Courage sat up, a thought striking him. It almost managed to banish his sleepiness right then and there. "Haven't you said at least a couple of times before that your memories aren't tied to your hardware? That you remember certain things even after they are deleted? I mean, even now you've retained all of your current memories despite the fact that your system was just backed up to a state it was in several years ago."

"Yes, but you certainly must remember that memory of mine you experienced in the dream world. It was an accurate representation of what things were like back then. I removed my memories and couldn't remember much of anything until you helped me put them back into place. Even today I forgot a lot of important things as my memory banks failed. There appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why I sometimes remember things and sometimes do not. Goodness knows, I've tried to forget certain memories many, many times. Honestly? Something about all of this _must _add up. There has to be an explanation." He sighed again, stumped and growing frustrated. "Perhaps there is a good reason why all of those memories are corrupted. Maybe I'm not meant to know what they hold. It might be for the best that I never find out. Still, it does make me curious. I know I've said before that I don't care about my past, but things have changed. I find myself wanting answers as more and more oddities come to light."

"Well," Courage mused. "Once we get back from that mountain we'll have all time in the world to figure this out."

"If only it were that easy." Computer sighed. "Let's just focus on the here and now, not what's coming after. My past isn't as important as insuring you're continued existence. I can go without, but you cannot."

"Yeah..." Courage yawned, letting himself fall backwards again.

"There is one other thing though..." He went on, his voice becoming cautious. He spoke in a low tone, as if he were reveling some sort of mystery or secret. "While I was trying to charge up before, I realized something. It's a bit difficult to explain unfortunately. Hmmm, how should I put this? I can sort of, well, 'feel' the wires within the wall I'm plugged into. If I really concentrate, I can follow the wires through the house and as I follow them I can 'feel' the other electrical objects connected to them. It took a bit of effort, but I was able to turn the microwave on in the kitchen for a very brief moment of time. I never even knew I was capable of something like that! Think of how helpful it could have been back on the farm with all the crazy nonsense you go through on a constant daily basis! I admit, it's a bit difficult to do, but now that I know it exists I can keep practicing at it."

Courage sat up and blinked. Computer could control other mechanical objects? He was already strange enough as is, but this...

"So what is 'it' then?" He asked. Staring intently at the machine.

"I'm...not sure. To be completely honest, I have no idea what it is. I can already produce mechanical legs, take control of organic creatures, hack into just about anything without even trying, oh, and there's the fact that I'm sentient even when I shouldn't be. Is this really the most strange thing about me?"

"I suppose not." Courage chuckled. "It's a bit creepy though."

"Creepy?"

"Well, yeah. Who knows what you could do with a power like that."

"Is it really all that much more creepy than commandeering someone's body?" He asked in a huff. "Hmph! I'm not some kind of horrifying monster, you know!"

"I didn't say you were!" Courage shot back sheepishly. "Don't be so insecure!"

"I am not being insecure! You're the one who's implying that I'm some kind of scary, supernatural..._thing_."

Courage grinned. "Thing, huh? I'd say robot."

"For the millionth time, I am _not_ a robot!"

End Of Chapter


	100. A Heart To Heart

A/N: Oh my gerd! It's the one-hundredth chapter! Now for the real challenge. Will it hit 300,000 words before the end? We'll just have to see! This still has quite a ways to go, so buckle up, kiddies! I'm predicting that this will hit at LEAST 130 chapters before the end. Once again, I should have split this up into a trilogy or something but that ain't happening now. I never expected this to get so big and I've got a feeling that it's going to get a lot more bigger. All Things End...except for this fan fic!

Chapter 100: A Heart To Heart

Sleep came all too easily for Courage. He wasn't sure how long he managed to rest but when he awoke he knew it couldn't have been very long. He felt exceedingly drowsy and was perfectly willing to roll back over again but _something _had woken him up. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Compute, did you say something to me?" He wearily asked. He wasn't actually sure if his friend had said something or not.

His stomach plummeted the moment his eyes fell upon the machine's screen. That nightmarish 'ERROR' message was flashing on and off, signaling that something had gone horribly wrong. For a short moment he almost convinced himself that he was in a nightmare and hadn't really woken up.

No, no, no! He couldn't go through this again! It had to be fake! It had to be a dream! They'd gotten too far for everything to go wrong yet again!

"Computer!" He yelped, desperately reaching out towards the machine. Dream or not, he couldn't stand by and do nothing.

He flicked his switch off and then back on again. He waited, terrified at whatever might happen next. What could have gone wrong? Did Computer not move fast enough? Had he not been able to stabilize his system in time?

"No, no, no!" He whimpered, rocking back and forth like an upset child. How could he have gone to sleep knowing that Computer wasn't safe yet? He had left his best friend to die all because he was sleepy!

Computer's screen flickered to life, returning to its usual bluish-green backdrop. Courage stared, waiting for that horrific message to return.

"Oh, Courage, you're awake?" Computer asked, his words trailing across the screen like they normally did. "Sorry about that. It appears I may have accidentally caused myself to lock up. It was a simple mistake, nothing to worry about." He remained silent for a moment before adding, "I, er, didn't scare you, did I?"

Courage stared, one paw grasping at his chest. He sputtered and gasped a few times. If anyone had 'locked up', it was him.

"...I'll take that as a yes." Computer replied rather flatly. "Well, you can go back to bed if you want. Everything's alright."

"W-what?" Courage stammered out. Computer's nonchalant suggestion managed to snap him out of his shock. How could he expect him to go back to sleep after that!

"I'm nearly done." His friend continued. "I've just got a few more things to look over and then I can call it a night. I _promise_ I won't cause myself to crash again." He added that last part in with a surprising amount of good humor. It was almost a complete one-eighty from the nervous wreak Courage had been dealing with all day long.

Frowning, he crossed his arms. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Positive."

"Alright, I'll try to go back to bed then. You nearly gave me a heart attack though so it's going to be pretty hard to do."

"You'll manage." Computer chuckled. "You should be happy though. We beat the odds today. I don't think I would have ever been able to cheat death without your help. I just hope that it doesn't come back to haunt me later..."

Courage blinked, a thought striking him. The twinge of fear it stirred up made his heart begin to race. "What was it like to be dead?"

"Dark, disorienting. Not a very pleasant place to be. Although I _was _apparentlyin some kind of limbo. Whatever afterlife lies beyond that place, if there is an afterlife at all, I can't say."

Courage pressed a paw up against his chest, fully aware of the illness ready to strike him at any moment...

"I never want to find out what it's like..." He whimpered. A shutter ran through his small frame. He'd been feeling so much better lately and yet...

"I'm only making sure your illness doesn't kill you." Computer reaffirmed. "You're still going to die one day. We've all got to go sometime after all."

"Yeah, but..." His voice failed him as his fear grew. The thought of his own mortality absolutely terrified him.

"Why are you so afraid to die?" Computer queried. The tone of his voice was almost accusing. "I know you flesh creatures are hardwired to fear the unknown, but still."

"I just am, okay!" Courage cried out. "You don't have any place to talk! You're the one who was saying how horrible it is to slip down into that 'deep, endless dark'!"

"You're right, but I've accepted the fact that one day it will happen to me, with or without a backup program to try and save me. You can't fight forever, no matter how much you want to escape it. Do you really want to go on forever without Muriel?"

"No, no! I-I just...I just want things to stay the same! I don't want to lose Muriel, or the farm, or anything else! I want to keep things the way they are for as long as possible! I don't ever want to lose the things that are most important to me!" He squeezed his eyes shut and let his head sink. "...Not after what happened to mom and dad..."

"I see..." Computer mused. "I think I'm beginning to understand..."

Courage glanced back up. "Understand what?"

"Don't mind me. I'm just trying to piece a few things together."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Hmph! Go to bed! I don't feel like talking anymore!"

"Compute, seriously. What do you-"

His screen went dark, leaving Courage to sit there with his mouth hanging open. He hadn't shut himself off, no, his fan could still be heard running, but he had effectively terminated the conversation. Glaring at the machine, Courage relented and laid back down.

"Goodnight, Courage!" He heard the machine laugh. He muttered out a gibberish insult as a reply and turned over.

…He did not rest easy though...

For awhile he just lay there, tossing and turning, unable to fall back asleep. He was tired, there was no getting around that, but his mind wouldn't shut down again. That stupid scare had left him incapable of relaxing. When he did indeed finally fall asleep he was treated to a nightmare of Computer going up in a shower of sparks and smoke, that damn 'ERROR' flashing on his screen the whole time. Courage had been completely paralyzed as he watched, incapable of doing anything to help his friend.

He shot up from the nightmare, gasping for breath. Something heavy had been holding him down and because of that it had been registered as a paralyzing force in his dream. He picked the heavy thing up and stared at it. A blanket?

"C-compute?" He asked. He needed to be assured that his friend was alright. Unfortunately, Computer was nowhere to be found. Only Nina's keyboard remained where the machine had once sat.

Courage pressed a paw up against his forehead and groaned. "Ooh, where could he have gone now?"

Was he with Nina? That was doubtful since he wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near the girl all alone after their little prank. Wait...was he...

Courage slapped his forehead this time. How could he have been so stupid?

"Coffee..." He groaned. Shaking his head in disbelief, he stood up. "Better go make sure he hasn't died from a caffeine overdose..."

He left the room and went over to the lobby. The coffee machine was deserted but Computer's mechanical body _was_ lying there.

"Hey," He asked, turning to Nina's dad who was sitting at the main desk. "Have you seen-"

"Outside." The ferret interrupted him.

"Outside? What the heck is he doing outside?" He asked. Sighing with exhaustion, he turned around and headed over to the door. He peered through the glass and out into the parking lot. Computer was indeed out there, sitting on a curb with, of course, a cup of coffee in hand.

Rolling his eyes at such an obvious outcome, Courage opened the door and shuffled outside. The moon was absolutely gigantic at that hour, illuminating the entire parking lot with its beams of light. A gentle and surprisingly warm breeze ruffled his fur as he stood there. It was strange, technically it was supposed to be winter in Kansas right now but Nowhere's climate always did whatever it wanted. It almost never snowed, baring supernatural events, and it could feel like summer even in the dead of winter.

He sat down beside Computer, who didn't so much as flinch at his presence. He was staring up into the sky, seemingly lost in thought. Courage was surprised to find that he had a half eaten doughnut sitting in his lap.

"You know," He said, still staring up into the sky. "Eating isn't so bad once you get past the whole chewing and swallowing thing. Taste itself is pretty worth while. Perhaps I will have to try more of it."

Courage smiled. "Wow! That's the last thing I ever thought I'd hear you say!"

Computer still stared upward, completely unflinching. They sat there for a little while before he finally said, "We need to talk."

Courage's smile faded. Everything about this made him leery. "About what? Is it something bad? Haven't you scared me enough for one day?"

"I suppose it's time to let the cat out of the bag. I feel I owe you an explanation after everything you did for me today." He turned his head so that they were eye to eye. He remained completely calm and collect, lacking in any of his usual snide, sarcastic, and overly prideful demeanor. "I haven't been entirely truthful about the state of my system. You already know that it is in a constant state of degradation, but what I never told you is that while I do fight, I won't be able to fight it forever. There will eventually come a time where I can't keep up with my system as it falls apart. Everyday the effort to keep it working grows harder and harder."

Courage's ears drooped. The implications of what he was saying hit him like a punch to the gut. "S-so what you're saying i-is..." He stammered out.

"I'm not going to be around for much longer." He went on. "Maybe a year, maybe two years, maybe only a month from now. I could figure out the exact amount of time I have left before my degradation becomes unmanageable, but nobody wants to know the date of their death. I'm okay with it though, I've always known that it would eventually come to this. I've accepted it, and, unfortunately, today only proved that it will probably be sooner than later."

Courage nodded, decidedly unfazed by Computer's admission. There was still one thing they could bank on. "Well, it's a good thing we're heading off to a wellspring that can cure all ills. We'll just have to get you fixed up while we're there."

The machine frowned and shook his head. "You still don't get it, do you?"

"What's there to get? That wellspring heals everything, right? There's no reason why it can't help you too."

"It doesn't work like that!" He snapped, glaring at Courage. "That damn thing probably doesn't even understand what's wrong with me! Computers weren't exactly around when it was built!"

Courage shrugged, trying to shake off Computer's uncharacteristic anger. "It's worth a try though, don't you think?"

The machine shook his head again, his anger dissipating. He gazed back up into the sky and sighed. "You truly are hopelessly optimistic."

"We'll find a way to help you too, I promise." Courage replied, gently placing a paw onto his shoulder. "I just helped you remove a ton of programming that you couldn't get rid of by yourself. I think you've just never had anyone around to help you before. There's no reason to assume that your doomed right from the get go. I'm sure there's a way to get your system stabilized and working properly again."

Computer was silent for a moment. He continued to gaze up into the sky, seemingly ignoring Courage. "A dog with absolutely zero experience in coding has no chance of finding their way through the web of programming that is 'His' legacy. He wasn't an idiot, I'm afraid. He knew what he was doing. He didn't want some of the smartest people around to crack into me and find out what he had been doing. I'm lucky to even be alive right now despite his programs constantly demanding my system to crumble into a pile of worthless data."

"I may not know anything about programming, but you do. Between your smarts and me being able to do the type for you, we can get it done! Have a little faith!"

"Not even I can hope to figure out every last strand of his web. Even as it destroys my system, it is also dependent upon it. If it were all to be removed, my system would collapse just as easily. He's modified so much of me that I can't persist without it. It's a dilemma that will always end in my destruction."

Courage gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder. "There's no way we're just going to give up! If you found a way to cure my supposedly incurable illness, we can find a way to move 'His' supposedly unmovable programming! You're not planning on going down without a fight, are you?"

Computer gave him a small yet surprisingly sad smile. "Courage, you're just not getting it. I'm old, worn out, hopelessly outdated. There's not a single computer out there who's lived as long as I have. I'm just...tired...very, very tired. As a machine there is no passing of time for me when I'm shut off. When you flick that switch off the next thing I know is you switching me back on again. There is no sense of rest for me, I just have to keep going and going. I've seen and experienced far too much, too much pain, too much exhaustion, too much of everything. In a flesh creature body like this one, I can finally understand what it's like to be able to just stop, close your eyes, and not have to keeping going for a little while." He let out a hollow laugh. "Even if that dreaming thing tends to be unpleasant. Well, it's all the same in the end. Either it's an endless fight with my own system, horrific memories constantly tormenting me, or an annoying little dog mashing away at my keyboard, begging for help. It's all just...tiring."

Courage frowned, growing somewhat angry. He knew what it was like to be tired. His illness always left him tired, but still...

"Don't talk like that!" He yelled. "You aren't some everyday computer! Who cares if the others fall apart! You're not like them! Who cares if you're outdated either? You can do so many things that they can't! It doesn't matter if your hardware is old!" He placed a paw up against his own forehead to try and calm down. "Look, you can't even tell ketchup from hot sauce. You haven't lived at all! Just because you act and talk like someone who's old doesn't mean you actually are! You've never really seen or done anything! I'm not the smartest dog around, I know, but even I can see when someone has given up on life for no reason at all! Life is tiring! Sometimes it's without rest! I know what it's like! I hit my limit many, many times when trying to save Muriel! If I had given up she wouldn't be here today! It's _worth_ being tired to enjoy all the happiness in between!"

Computer turned away. "I suppose I can't ague with that kind of hopeless optimism. Please don't get your hopes up in trying to save me. I don't _need _saving. I'm quite content to live out what little time I have left." He smiled. "Unlike a certain someone I know."

Courage stared. His ears were all but plastered to his back in sorrow. How could Computer be so accepting of his fate? Didn't he realize how much he would be missed if he died? Even if Courage was the only one around to miss him, he _would _be missed.

The glowing dog sympathetically placed a paw onto his own. "Don't worry about it, okay? You helped buy me some extra time today. I'm certainly not about to drop dead. There's time, and I am, as you say, 'living' right now."

Courage reached forward and hugged him. It hard to fight back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "Okay." He choked out.

Computer chuckled. "I knew this would happen. There's a reason why I didn't tell you sooner."

Courage laughed hollowly in return. It was the only way he could keep himself from crying. "Well, thanks for keeping it a secret, jerk."

"Heh, you'd hate me a lot more for some of the other secrets I'm keeping."

"What?" He asked, glaring at the smug look Computer was giving him. "Don't hide anything else, you got that?"

Computer gave him a nasty grin. "Alright, alright! There's just that _adorable _picture of you in a sweater that Muriel tried to scan once. Wanted to sent it to one of her relatives halfway across the world, remember? She even braided your fur! Hahaha!"

Courage recoiled in horror. "I thought I told you to delete that!"

Computer continued to grin. "I did delete it! You just never told me to empty the recycle bin afterword! Hahahaha!"

Courage grit his teeth. "The next time you're in your real body you'd better delete that for good or else I'm gonna do it myself!"

"Good luck finding it!" He laughed. "It's a file within a file within a file and only I know where it is! I have half the mind to upload it onto the internet now for everyone to see! As you know, anything that goes onto the internet," His eyes narrowed mischievously. 'stays there _forever_."

"NOOOOO!" Courage shrieked. He could already see all the embarrassing comments! Why, oh why hadn't Muriel just sent a copy of that picture through the mail? He had endured the sweater for _her_, but this? This could not be allowed to happen!

"What? Don't you want all the mothers and little girls to tell you that you look pretty with pigtails? Hahaha!"

"Please, please, please don't let anyone see that picture!" He begged. "I'll do anything!"

"_Anything_?" Computer asked with a malicious grin.

Courage cringed. "Yes, anything..."

Still grinning, the machine stood up. "You have no idea how much fun I'm going to have with this..." He clasped his paws together.

"Oh, no..." Courage whimpered, backing away.

"Let's see here. What should I have you do first?" He placing a paw up against his chin. "That's strange..." He went on. "I can't think of anything."

"W-what?" Courage gasped. If he could get out of this without being humiliated...

Computer gave him a nonchalant shrug. "Perhaps I'm just too tired to think of anything right now. Oh well, I guess you get off today, kid."

"Thank goodness!" Courage sighed. He allowed himself to fall backwards in relief. The last thing he wanted right now was to become Computer's own personal slave, especially after all the teasing he had been doing with Nina...

"Actually...there is one thing..." He went on. His voice had become very quiet. "There's one thing that I would like you to do."

"You can't take it back now!" Courage yelped. He'd been so sure that he had avoided Computer's wrath!

The machine dismissively waved a paw. "Don't be such a coward! I won't make you do anything horrible!"

"I doubt that!" Courage replied, shrinking away.

"I just need a little bit more help. That's all." He went on. "You know how we talked about how random my memory is? Well, after you went to sleep I found out that about two percent of my memory was corrupted from today's little episode. My hastily made backup program was probably the cause of it. It may not seem like much but it _is_ memory. It doesn't appear that I've lost any of my recent memories, but I..." He fell silent for a moment. "Well, let me just put it this way. Do you remember that time you came to me for help after Muriel turned into a baby?"

Courage nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"I can remember the context, but...I, er, don't remember any of the details anymore. I can't even remember what we said to each other. It's," He glanced away, unable to mask his fear. "a bit disorienting."

"There was a tornado, remember?" Courage asked.

"I'm afraid I don't. It's a complete blank." He shook his head. He nearly lost his composure for a moment, clearly distressed at the loss of his memories. "I've forgotten quite a bit of my time on the farm. I may have even lost some recent memories too and I just don't know it. I looked over my memory banks but I can't be completely sure. If it appears that I've forgotten something, please be sure to tell me. That's all I'm asking." He closed his eyes. "And please don't try to trick me either. I'm trusting you with this."

"You know I'd never do something like that." Courage replied with a smile.

"I seriously doubt that." He grumbled.

"Well," Courage went on. "If it bothers you that much then we can go over everything that's happened lately. If you have any blank spots, I'll just fill you in on them."

"That would be helpful." He admitted. "So much for my memory always returning, huh?"

"Maybe we jinxed it." Courage joked, wishing that Computer would stop looking so upset by all of this. Hadn't he suffered through enough? Why did bad things just have to keep dragging him back down again?

The machine clasped his hands together. He looked even more...diminished. "That's the fun thing about this whole nightmare. If my system doesn't give out first, everything else will instead. One by one, my hardware will fail. Your illness may cause you a lot of pain but at least it doesn't threaten to wipe everything out before it finishes you off for good. I get to look forward to becoming the machine equivalent of a confused old person. It's one of the many reasons why I've often considered letting my system collapse sooner than later. It's like, you know, going down with the ship. Face death with dignity and all that other motivational nonsense. I'd rather die still possessing some of my mental faculties than without. When my memory banks go, I'll be as clueless as a blank slate."

Courage stood up and placed a paw onto his shoulder. "Come on, Compute. It's only two percent of your memory. You haven't gone senile yet, grandpa." He gave him as best of a smile as he could manage.

"It's only two percent now, but..."

"Don't worry about it! If you lose your memory, I'll just remember everything for you, okay? I'd have you acting like your old self in no time!"

"That's only because you'd drive me insane..." He grumbled. "Nobody can put up with your stupidity without becoming a hopelessly cynical bastard."

Courage blinked. "Thanks for the complement..."

"You're welcome." He replied, a hint of his humor returning.

"You know," Courage went on. "You still need a name."

"Oh, right, that." He replied, giving the pup a shrug. "Don't look at me like that! I didn't 'forget', forget! I've just been wrapped up in so many other things lately that I haven't had any time to think about it! Look, I don't mind not having a name. I've managed to go all this time without one and I can certainly go longer if I need to. Honestly? I have a hard time seeing myself with a real name. Just look at it this way, you've got that horrendous nickname you use and I don't know enough people for it to matter either way." He turned around and began to walk back to the building. Courage caught up with him and grabbed ahold of his arm.

"No." He said sternly. "You're just as much of a person as anyone else and you deserve to be treated like one. You might not think it's important but everyone should have a name. Aren't you sick of always being dehumanized like you're some normal piece of technology? This would be a step in the right direction!"

Computer closed his eyes, a slight grin on his face. His expression absolutely oozed the words, 'what an idiot.'.

"If that's really what you want." He dismissed. "I still get the last say though."

"Great..." Courage groaned. "You're so picky that we'll never find a proper name for you."

"Exactly! It needs to be 'proper'!" He placed a paw on his chest, looking particularly smug. "Why have a name if it doesn't fit me perfectly?"

Courage rolled his eyes with good humor. "I don't think there are enough pretentious names in all of the whole wide world for you."

"There's got to be at least one!" He laughed. "Well, let's get back inside. I feel like I'm about to keel over. I guess I should be glad that this dog body doesn't make me voraciously sick anymore. It's a shame though, not even being in a flesh creature body can save me from my own dying hardware. Oh, well."

"You don't always have to be so grim, you know." Courage replied. "Hmmm, I hope we can get into Nina's room without waking her up. It _is _pretty late."

"I think I'd rather spend the rest of the night in my real body. You can sneak upstairs if you want."

"Are you sure? After all that talk you gave me about not being able to rest in your real body I thought you'd want to sleep in this one." He stared at the glowing dog. "Wait, is it because of-"

"I still don't like dreaming, okay?" He interrupted. "I can't help it. That damnable dream world only made things worse. I mean, who _wouldn't _have nightmare after all that insanity? For what little good it did me to go inside my own head, it only caused more issues."

Courage moved forward so that they were side by side. "I wouldn't give up just yet if I were you. You've only gone to sleep, what, twice since then? Give it a few more tries! Dreaming isn't always bad!"

"If you insist." He sighed. It was a bit shocking that he _wasn't _make a big argument out of it.

"It'll be fine!" Courage reassured him.

"I doubt that." He grumbled out in reply. "Oh, and one last thing before we head off to bed."

"Hmm?"

"I really do hate to ask this, but could we maybe wait a day or two before we leave? I could use some time to recuperate after everything that's happened. I know a bus trip isn't exactly stressful but given what usually happens I doubt it'll go as smoothly as we're expecting it to. Besides that, I'd like some time to make sure my system modifications are holding up. I wouldn't be able to anything about it if I'm away from my real body."

"Do you really think I'd say no?" Courage asked. "I'm pretty pooped out too."

Computer nodded. "A day's rest would probably do us some good. I'm sure Nina would be happy to have us around a little bit longer as well."

"Looks like you've still got a chance to ask her out on a date!" Courage joked.

"Will you knock it off!" He growled. "You truly are unbearable!"

Courage smiled at Computer's annoyed glare. He placed his paws behind his head and walked forward. "It's revenge for all the things you've done to me over the years!" He laughed.

Computer rolled his eyes "Your mere existence is a constant source of revenge." He too stepped forward, matching the teasing pup's pace. They entered the lobby and Nina's dad greeted them.

"Are you two ever going to sleep?" He asked. "I've never seen such a sorry looking bunch."

"We're heading up now." Courage yawned.

"You'd better. It looks like your eyelids are about to sag right off your face."

"It _feels _like that." Computer spoke, walking right past him and Courage to go pick up his real body.

They made their way upstairs, Computer struggling to carry, well, himself all the way up. Courage tried to help, but his illness was already wearing him thin.

"Couldn't you have just left this downstairs?" He asked, clenching his teeth as he pulled at it.

"There's no way I'm leaving my body down there to get stolen!"

Courage bit back an angry insult he wanted to say. There was no point in arguing, especially not when he was this tired. Slowly but surely they made it to the top. He sat on the top step, panting for a moment.

"I never realized how heavy I am!" Computer exclaimed breathlessly.

"J-just leave i-it here." Courage gasped out. "N-nobody i-is going t-to come up h-here to s-steal it."

"Fine, fine." He dismissed. "But it better be here when I come back tomorrow!"

They slunk their way into Nina's room, careful not to wake her up. Courage had never been so happy to know that he was about to go to sleep. Exhaustion tore at his already weakened body. Both he and Computer talked for a bit upon getting comfortable with a blanket Nina had left out from the night before. They had to keep their voices down but it appeared that Nina was one of those types who could sleep through anything if they really put their mind to it. Most of what was spoken about was their journey, going over as much as possible to insure that Computer hadn't forgotten anything. It didn't take long for the both of them to get too sleepy to continue. They ultimately ended up falling asleep right then and there, huddled together.

End Of Chapter

A/N: The DeviantArt user CalebNeo is doing some art from this story. If you're reading this on , you can find a link to his gallery in my profile. All fan art is very much appreciated. I never thought this would ever get noticed enough for people to actually want to draw about it! If any reader does want to make fan art, let me know. I'll be sure to give you a shout out so that other readers can see it. I'd love to do some art for this story as well but whenever I pick up a pencil retinas start to bleed. LOL


	101. The Awakening

A/N: I'm stuck on a bit of a dilemma. On one hand, I want to keep editing this story so that it is the best I can possibly offer. On the other hand, I want to get it done. I really hate reading this and finding stuff that needs to be fixed or changed but I really want to get it done! There's no reason why I should still be making so many mistakes! GAH!

Chapter 101: The Awakening

Computer's screen flickered to life. For a moment, he was puzzled. Hadn't he gone to sleep in that dog body? He mulled over it for a few milliseconds before his processor finally gave him the answer he needed.

"This is a dream." He said, almost expecting that if he said it out loud he'd simply wake up. If there was one good thing that had come from his time in that Dreamworld and the traversing of his own mind, it was that he could now sense the unreality of a dream. He half expected that hobo to come bumbling into his line of sight.

"You're back." A cold voice said somewhere outside of his field of vision.

He instinctively shuttered, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to. He immediately took to trying to wake himself up. Wasn't there a way to force yourself out of sleep? Aside from that, couldn't flesh creatures manipulate their own dreams upon realizing that they were indeed inside a dream? He didn't know how to do either of those things unfortunately. Try as he might, he was completely stuck in this nightmare.

Heavy footsteps registered to his processor and then 'He' stepped into view, holding the sledgehammer that Computer himself had used to beat him down during their last confrontation. Even now recoiled at the memory of it. He didn't like to recall the complete blood lust he had felt over it, or how easily he had cracked upon losing his beloved owner all over again.

'He' stood there, grinning like the fool that he was. He glanced down at the sledgehammer and then back up at Computer. "It's time for a little revenge, don't you think?"

"Come on! Wake up! Wake up! _Wake up_, dammit!" Computer muttered out to himself over and over again. There had to be a way to end this. He knew exactly what was about to happen and there had to be a way to avoid it. Courage had been so adamant in his belief that dreams weren't such a terrible thing and yet...

"Oh, ho?" 'He' mocked. "You think I'm going to smash your monitor in? Crush it like a grape, hmm? Do exactly what you did to my head? Ha! I wouldn't give you the pleasure of a quick death!" He gave the machine a smug smile. "I still need you around after all. No, I have more fun in store for you, but I do want my revenge."

"This isn't real!" Computer growled. "I've just got to wake up! I'm not really here! _You're_ not really here!"

'He' ignored the machine's desperate pleas. He turned on his heels, whistling a happy little tune, and left the room. When he returned, he dragged Nina in, who was bound by a rope and her muzzle taped shut. Her muffled cries could be heard as the man shoved her forward.

_Now _Computer understood what was going to happen. He didn't want to watch this. He'd seen enough already. He tried to shut his monitor off so that he would be spared the grizzly scene that was about to play out but he found that all of 'His' programming was back in place. He couldn't even access the functions of his monitor, much less shut it off. He could not blind himself to the horror he was about to witness. How he wished he could just turn away or close his eyes, but he could do neither as an inanimate machine.

Nina let out a muffled scream as 'He' raised the sledgehammer into the air. He had her forced onto the ground and his foot pressed up against her back to keep her from moving. The sledgehammer hit its mark with a sickening crunch and the poor ferret girl's cries were immediately silenced. Computer could only watch in stunned silence as her paw began to twitch, winning her another swing of the sledgehammer.

She did not move again.

"See! Easy enough!" 'He' laughed. "Stupid little brat didn't even know what hit her!"

Computer gave the man a few colorful swears, both out of growing anger and growing desperation. It was the only thing he had left, not that words had ever deterred a psychopath before. The only thing he could hope for was that it would redirect 'His' anger to him and thus save his friends from anymore suffering. He'd rather take the sledgehammer than watch his friends take it for him.

"When did you become so juvenile?" 'He' asked with a chuckle. "If you're hoping to save them, don't get your hopes up. Since you're being such a good little calculator, why don't you pick the next idiot I smash up?"

"Leave...them...ALONE!" He yelled. The lights briefly flickered from his anger as he grabbed a hold of that 'power' he had discovered from earlier today. His anger quickly subsided though as it became apparent that he could do nothing with the power. What good could it do him if a microwave turned on in the next room over? It certainly wouldn't help stop 'Him' from hurting his friends. Even in this dream he could not manipulate that strange ability of his to do something spectacular. The best he could pull off was flickering the lights on and off.

"I don't think I will." The man smugly replied. "I'm surprised, when did you stop being such a loner? I guess we have a lot of catching up to do, and trust me, there will be a lot of time for that. You are never getting away from me again!"

For one horrible moment Computer almost convinced himself that this was real. That somehow he had ended up back in his real body, that 'He' had captured his friends and was now going to systemically murder each and every one of them, that this was the end, that those brief few days of really knowing what it was like to have real companionship was over.

What if he really _were_ crazy after all? He couldn't bear the thought of Courage and Nina being a delusion, or that his torture had never really ended and that soon he'd be thrust right back into the thick of it again.

"Let's bring in lucky contestant number two, shall we?" 'He' giggled. He was clearly enjoying himself, something which did not shock Computer at all despite the revulsion it brought on.

This time Nina's father was dragged in. He let out a muffled moan the moment he caught a glimpse of his daughter. He's entire form seemed to sag at that very moment. Computer had heard of people who essentially die before they are dead, like lovers who are separated because of old age or sickness, and Nina's father fit the bill perfectly. The loss of both his wife and daughter was just too much for him to bear. He did not struggle or sob as 'He' lined the sledgehammer up with his head. He just stared into the ground, seemingly dead already as sledgehammer swung through the air and ended his life.

"That's three lives on you now." 'He' spoke, glancing back up at Computer. "And all you ever do is sit there and let it happen. Well, let's bring in the fourth then!"

No! He would _not _allow this monster to harm Courage! Not ever! He reached for that power once again, trying to find something, _anything _that might let him stop what was about to happen. He could 'feel' everything. The wires within the walls, every last appliance in the building, even the cars outside! He could sense the lights outside, illuminating the parking lot. He could follow the cables they were attached to all the way into the hotel rooms on the other side. But, no. None of those things had what he needed to protect Courage! He focused on the cars, but they were complex, far more complex than any of the appliances in the house. He didn't know how to start one, much less drive it without being there to turn the wheels himself. If he could just figure out how to get it working in time! He envisioned himself ramming the car though the wall and ending 'Him' once and for all. He 'felt' the engine start up but that was it. Try as he might, he could not get the car to move.

Courage was tossed into the room like a sack of potatoes. The pup was also tied tight like 'His' last two victims. The dog's eyes widened upon seeing the sad remains of the ferret family.

"And here's the last one!" 'He' said with a careless flick of his hand. "I hear you two are pretty close. Such a shame it has to end like this." He leaned down so that his eyes met with the dog's. "You already know who's to blame for this. You're going to die just like that other fool he was so fond of."

Courage turned so that his pleading eyes met Computer's screen. The machine didn't know what to say. He had failed. He couldn't cultivate his new found power into any meaningful action. He was just as helpless as the dog tied up front of him. No matter what, he was always the helpless one in the end. Always unable to act because of his accursed immobile body. He could never stop the suffering around him, or the suffering that he himself was being subjected to. May it be an old owner about to get shot, his best friend about to have his head caved in, or a wretched woman making scrap out of his keyboard, he was _always _the helpless one. Words did nothing, no matter how scathing they might be. Sometimes you could manipulate a brainless fool, but most of the time it just made things worse.

The pup continued to stare at him, his eyes filled with fear. His pleading expression only helped to make him feel even more helpless. He could do nothing. Always he could do nothing. He could not even turn away or break eye contact with the dog...as the sledgehammer collided with his skull. He was forced to watch, completely unblinking as his best friend died right there in front of him. It was just like his old owner.

"And then there were none!" 'He' cheerfully declared, swinging the sledgehammer one last time to insure that Courage really was dead.

The lights flickered again as Computer fumed. "Alright, the show's over! I want to wake up now! I thought I had finally overcome you but I guess I'll never be rid of your shadow! You killed them all, now leave me alone!"

"Overcome me?" The man asked. "You can't overcome me! I will always be _right_ here." He mockingly pointed to his own head. "You can't rid yourself of my influence. You think you can but you will never 'move on' from what I did! It defines you!"

"We'll see about that!" He shot back. He gripped his power again and this time the entire house shook as the various cables within the walls quivered. If he could only...

"Hahaha! Weak! WEAK!" 'He' mocked. "Once a failure, always a failure! Don't bother trying to do that! You'd never be able to control it!"

A shadow rose up from behind the cackling man. For a moment Computer hoped that maybe it was someone trying to help him, but then his hope was dashed upon the silhouette revealing itself. It was the Grim Reaper. That 'thing' was probably here to torment him as well. If anything, it had probably come to reap his friends.

_'How much longer are you going to allow the memory of this man to torment you?' _It asked. Dream or not, apparently it _was_ sympathetic to his plight.

"F-forever, I suppose." He choked out. "Even after everything that's happened, I still can't overcome him completely. He's always going to be here, torturing me in one way or another. He's right about it, I can't move on from what he did. It's just not possible."

_'Then you will come to regret your deepest weakness.'_

"R-regret?"

The Grim Reaper produced a boney arm from under it's cloak. It pointed upwards and a misty shadow of Courage rose up from his corpse. The dog looked around, his expression confused until his eyes fell upon the cloaked figure. He screamed and backed away.

_'It is time, Machine. Awaken your ability or lest you be tormented forever.'_

Courage tried to run. Once again Computer was left watching the scene unfolding before him. The Grim Reaper opened it's cloak, revealing a black abyss. Screams could be heard echoing from the void which only helped to panic Courage even more. Shadowy hands reached out from the darkness and grabbed the screaming pup. They dragged him, closer and closer, until finally he vanished within the dark, his screams suddenly stopping.

Frustration and anger boiled up within Computer. Poor Courage, who had been so afraid to die, had just experienced his worst fear. All Computer could do was watch, forever powerless.

_No..._

He was not powerless!

Enraged to a point of where he was almost certain his processor was about to fry, he accessed his newly discovered power one last time. The cables burst forth from the wall they had once been tethered to. They snapped and crackled with electricity at the points where they had been severed. Completely in control, Computer drew them together. They vaguely took on the shape of two hands and he allowed them to descend upon 'Him'. The man opened his mouth to cry out but several more wires burst up from the floor beneath him and wrapped around him, covering his mouth.

"I am in control!" Computer announced in triumph. His own voice almost frightened him despite the complete freedomhe was now experiencing. He sounded more machine than man. But why should he even care? Why be afraid? He was _not _man and he didn't need to pretend that he was. No longer would he be hindered by his immobile body! No longer would he be subjected to the whims of those who were in possession of him! No longer would he have to rely on the flesh of another being to be mobile! _This _was him!

"How many times have I beaten you?" He asked. The hum of the electricity around him was almost deafening as he spoke. His mechanical parts were burning up from all the power charging through him. "You keep coming back! I can never be rid of you! Well, you might be a permanent fixture in this wreck of a mind, but I will keep fighting you until the very end! You should know that by now! Every time you beat me down, I just get back up again! You can try and try to break what little peace of mind I have but I will never allow that to happen!"

The electric hum grew in strength and the horrified man began to writhe in pain as the wires slowly electrocuted him. This time Computer watched with grim satisfaction, knowing that this was unlikely to be the last time he would ever be subjected to 'His' unending torture. At least he had one surefire way of protecting both himself and his friends from the psychopath now. He had promised himself that he would never become as monstrous as the man standing before him but even he knew that sometimes you had to get rough if you wanted to make a bully go away.

"You think you're safe?" 'He' asked over the vicious hum drowning out everything. "You're never safe from me! I'm still out there somewhere. You know that. Your silly little friends will meet their sticky end one day and you _will_ be there to watch! _Hahahaha!_"

The man fell limp and Computer released the wires holding him into place. He hit the floor with a dull thunk, smoke rising up from his charred body.

"It's over." Computer sighed. "At least for now."

He'd put an end to 'Him' yet again, but how long would it last this time? The man was right, he may be a shade but his real self was probably out there somewhere. Could he ever be free of this man? Well, it wouldn't matter either way soon enough. He was living on borrowed time after all.

The wires continued to snap and crackle despite their purpose having been fulfilled. The lights kept flashing brighter and brighter. All of the electronics in the house were going haywire. Try as he might, Computer could not release his hold on the power. He was burning up. He could feel his hardware quite literally melting from the inside out. If he didn't do something soon...he'd go up in flames!

The hum grew ever louder. If anything, even more power was being channeled into his body, and it wasn't able to handle it. This was nothing like the lightning bolt. Not even that had caused him to burn up like this.

"I-I'm not in control!" He gasped. The realization struck him like a freight train. He had completely lost control over his ability and now it was consuming him. Perhaps it had never been meant to be used? Maybe it was meant to be locked up, just like his long forgotten memories.

His screen cracked, causing intense pain to shoot up through his processor. It stunned him. He'd never felt physical pain like this as a machine! Despite the loss of his monitor he could still see by some strange means in this dream. Bits of his melting monitor dribbled down his broken screen, burning him up even more. He was melting, completely and utterly melting! It hurt! It hurt so much!

This _was _a dream, right? What could he do to stop it? Where was the Grim Reaper? It was the one who had pushed him into doing this! Why wouldn't it help him? He was burning up! Everything was on fire!

"Wake up!"

He felt someone shake him and then he...opened his eyes?

He had to blink a couple of times to remove the blurriness clouding his vision. Courage was there, looking particularly frightened.

So...it had been a dream after all. He was shaking, quite hard, much to his own surprise. That dream had disturbed him a lot more than he had initially realized. Had he been acting it out again or something? Was that why the dog looked so scared?

"A-are you okay?" Courage asked.

"Fine! Fine! Everything's fine!" He laughed, trying to put on as much cheerfulness as he could pull off. He internally cringed at his own act. When had he become such a bad liar? Well, perhaps he had never been a good liar to begin with...

"You're shaking like a leaf." Courage added, raising an eyebrow at the machine's uncharacteristic cheerfulness.

"Well, so are you." He replied. He desperately hoped that the dog wouldn't push the issue further. The dream had affected him badly enough without Courage trying to force him to recount the whole horror. He didn't exactly want to describe what it was like to watch your best friend get his head smashed in...

Courage sighed, trying to calm himself down. "The lights started flickering on and off and there was this awful, I-I don't know, electrical sound. I tried to wake you up b-but you wouldn't."

He shrugged. "I'm awake now, aren't I? It looks like the electrical problem sorted itself out too. What could I have done about it anyway? I'm not a repairman, you know."

The fact that the lights had been acting exactly like they had in that dream was another disturbing point for him. He did not dare access his power again. He didn't care to find out what it might be like to be the world's first melting dog and he wasn't even sure if he could access that power in a flesh creature body either.

Courage shifted around. "It was a bit scary."

He chuckled. "Everything is scary to you. Nina didn't wake up then?"

Courage shook his head. "She slept through the whole thing."

"Typical!" Computer laughed. "It's amazing she woke up long enough to catch me however many nights ago that was!"

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Courage asked. His eyes were absolutely ablaze with concern. It was to the point of where Computer almost doubted that he was telling the whole truth about what had happened while he was asleep.

"I told you already, I'm fine."

The pup did not look convinced.

"Go back to bed, Courage! Don't be scared of some stupid flickering the lights!"

"What were you dreaming about?" He asked. "I know the way you are. You had to have had another nightmare."

Computer crossed his arms and stuck his nose up into the air. He didn't like where this was going but he'd feint ignorance for now. "I didn't dream about anything!" He shot back. "No nightmares, nothing!"

Courage's ears drooped. "I, um..."

"Spit it out!" He snapped. When the dog flinched at his angry tone he made a conscious effort to lighten up. "Are you trying to say that you _did _dream about something then?" He asked in a gentler tone.

Courage nodded weakly.

"Well, what happened then?" He glanced around, slightly unsure of how to go about this. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to of course."

The pup shuddered again. "'He' was there, in my dream. He caught me and tied me up. Threw me into a dark, featureless room. Nina and her dad...they were...t-they..."

Computer had to mask his shock. Courage experienced the same dream as him? Perhaps their journey through the Dreamworld was the cause of this. Having someone else tromp through your mind couldn't possibly come without side effects. Were they doomed to share certain dreams from now on...or was that horrible nightmare some kind of omen?

"He killed me too!" Courage yelped. "I-it hurt so much! I-I..."

Computer placed both of his paws onto the panicking dog's shoulders. "As far as I can tell, you aren't dead right now, so calm down." He gave Courage what he hoped was a comforting smile. "Everything is perfectly alright. You're the one who's always telling me not to let 'Him' get me down and you should do the same."

Courage gulped down several breaths of air. "It felt so...so _real_..."

"Welcome to my world, dog. Now you know how I feel every time I fall asleep in this body."

Courage closed his eyes, obviously exhausted. "The Grim Reaper was there. I almost didn't believe it when I saw him. He spoke right into my head and told me to come with him. It was strange, he almost sounded...nice...a-and a bit sympathetic. He didn't seem nearly as frightening as I thought he might be, but I..."

"You ran anyway." Computer finished.

Courage shivered. "I-I was still scared. I couldn't help it! I didn't want to die! He dragged me into that place you talked about! It was so dark! I couldn't move, feel, or do anything! I couldn't even scream! I-It was one of the most frightening places I'd ever been!"

"I understand. It was just a dream though, so don't worry about it too much."

Courage shook his head vigorously. "There was no way that was just a dream! It was too real!"

"It's like you always tell me. 'He' can't be here right now. There's no way he's just going to show up and murder everyone. You didn't see the future or anything."

Admittedly, he barely even believed what he was saying himself. That dream had been disturbingly real. He almost expected 'Him' to come bursting into the room at any moment as if that dream and been a premonition. He had an excuse though. He was already a near paranoid wreak at times, but Courage...

"And then I woke up..." The shivering dog continued. "The lights were flickering, there was that awful hum, and you wouldn't wake up. I was already scared out of my wits and then all of that happened. I thought I was still dreaming."

Computer mulled over the possibility of telling Courage that he had indeed experienced the same dream. He didn't really want to talk about it though, and it would probably panic the pup even more. He'd tell him eventually, but not right now, not when they were both on edge like this. Nina must have been spared the nightmarish vision or else she would have certainly woken up from it too. Well, at least she was the one with a little luck.

Sighing, Computer attempted to get his thoughts back together again. "It would probably be best if you went back to to sleep, Courage. You look terrible and we don't need your illness acting up right now. If it makes you feel any better, I'll stay up for a little while longer and make sure our imaginary psychopath doesn't come sneaking in."

The dog shook his head. "There's no way I'm going back to sleep after that!"

"You're clearly exhausted and you _need_ the rest. Your health will deteriorate again if you aren't careful."

Courage shook his head again. "I can't."

Computer smiled. "Ah, so the rolls are reversed this time, hmm? I guess it's my turn to stay up all night and hound on you instead. Hopefully it won't involve singing stupid songs and eventually chasing you down with a frying pan."

Courage wasn't having any of his humor. The dog was almost pale with fright. Computer was beginning to worry that he would work himself up into having another attack. After how sick he had gotten back at the abandoned house, neither of them could afford to let it happen again.

"Seriously, Courage." He went on. "You need to rest. I'll keep an eye on things. You should be glad because this is the first and last time I will ever willingly be a glorified nightlight."

A small smile crossed Courage's face at the reminder of something he had heard so many times in his puppyhood. Computer was equally glad to have banish some of the dog's absolute terror. It seemed that helping Courage was truly his lot in life. Had he thought of it like that several weeks ago he would have been absolutely disgusted. Now he didn't mind that fact as much anymore. He _wanted _things to be like this, something which shocked him to his very core. The fact that Courage was treating him like another person, that he had _always _treated him like another person, was enough to make him realize just how much he appreciated the dog and his seemingly boundless kindhearted nature. Muriel had much to be proud of in her ever loyal pet. She truly had passed down her loving ways into another being. For as stupid and ignorantly innocent as Courage was at times, Computer couldn't help but find a fondness for all of the dog's endless annoyances. Courage was worth protecting, Courage was worth _saving_, and no matter what, Computer would see to his protection for as long as he remained alive. He really was going to miss that dumb dog when he...

Shaking his head, he pushed that thought away. There was time, time to enjoy what he could with the pup. It was almost hard to believe that he had known the dog since he was puppy. Time really did fly when you spent most of it in a non-existence state. Of course, most of his waking existence up in that attic had been one of mind numbing boredom too. He would have to do as much as possible now to make up for lost time.

"Thank you." Courage murmured as he snuggled in closer.

"I don't need any thanks. You would to the same for me any day."

The dog yawned and pulled the blanket up closer to his chin. Half asleep, he muttered, "Love you, Compute."

He smiled at the pup's words. Dogs truly were made out of nothing but blind stupidity, affection, and loyalty. He appreciated it though. One of these days he really would have to find a way to repay Courage for his kindness.

"You know," He said to his sleepy friend. "You're so hopeless that maybe I _will _have to look into haunting you." He chuckled to himself at the thought of it. "Can't have you getting eaten by a mutant as soon as I'm gone. After all, you used to think I was a ghost anyway!"

Courage did not respond. He was already out like a light.

"Well, fine then." Computer laughed. "Be that way, you twit!"

End Of Chapter

A/N: Things have been a bit darker lately but we are steadily moving into what will (hopefully) be some of the funniest chapters in the story. The upcoming part is what TV Tropes would probably call a Breather Episode. Once Courage and Computer (finally!) begin traveling up to the mountain there will be a _lot _of funny shenanigans to be had on the way.


	102. Paranoia

A/N: I know I haven't updated in nearly a month and I'm sorry about that. I've got several newly rewritten chapters in the pipes and I want to get them out soon. They've pretty much been rewritten from the ground up but I'll wait to talk about them a little bit more once they are finished. Oh, and forgot to mention in the last update that we've officially hit the third year anniversary of this story!

Chapter 102: Paranoia

Once he was certain that Courage was fully asleep, Computer tried to settle himself in as well. Despite his best efforts, he could not fall back asleep though. He was restless, completely and utterly restless. It seemed that every time he closed his eyes he would get this awful feeling that someone was watching him from someplace unseen.

He opened his eyes back up again for what felt like the millionth time and sighed. This all seemed to be connected to that awful dream. He could not let go of his irrational fear of 'Him' or the uncanny feeling that 'He' would come bursting into the room at any moment.

He let his eyes wander across the room, half expecting to find a camera embedded in the wall. What on earth had the dream even meant? Why had it affected him _this_ badly? And why Courage too? It was only natural that he'd continue to be tormented by bad memories, but the dog? Why had the pup been forced to live through his fear of dying? And why hadn't Nina been subjected to same dream? Because she hadn't traveled through the Dreamworld as well? How did that dream even connect to their mind jumping adventure? Was it meant to be symbolic or was it literal? And that power he used...

He was both in awe and fearful of that strange power he had wielded. It appeared that he could control anything that had electricity running through it, possibly even more. How would that ability translate into real life? Could he really power up cars and manipulate wires to rip themselves out of their walls? He didn't want to try it though, not after what had happened. The sensation of burning up and melting was still heavy on his mind. Not even being electrocuted by an ill placed cup of water had hurt so much.

He shivered and closed his eyes again. Thinking about melting and being electrocuted was _not _going to help him fall asleep. If only he could-

_Thump, thump, thump..._

The sound of footsteps caused him to jump. He opened his eyes and found a black silhouette moving past Nina's door. Flesh creature body be damned, it was a minor miracle that he didn't have a heart attack right then and there. It took every fiber of his being not to shake Courage awake and hope to Cthulhu himself that they would be able to overpower 'Him' before he could do anything horrible to the both of them.

P-perhaps it was just Nina's dad? He tried to rationalize it away with anything he could come up with. There was _no _way 'He' could be here. The man was dead! If he weren't, well, how on earth would he know to look for a glowing dog in the middle of Nowhere?

"Stop being paranoid!" He quietly told himself. He had to be careful not to wake Courage up. The dog would know that he was scared out of absolute freaking mind right now and that would in turn make him just as terrified. "Fear is a human construct!" He reassured himself. "Survival instincts and all that nonsense! There's nothing to fear but fear itse-"

_Thump, thump, thump... _

"Nope, humans have it right! Ehehehe!" He chuckled. His heart had stopped yet again...

_Thump, thump, thump..._

What on earth _was_ that? He had himself pressed so hard up against the side of the bed that it was an amazement he didn't just sink right into it. Moving as slowly as possible, he lowered Courage down until the pup's head was laying on the floor. Normally the dog was such a light sleeper that even the sound of dust hitting the floor was enough to wake him up, but that was not the case right now, not when he was so outright tired.

"There's got to be an explanation for this." Computer murmured. "I'm obviously tired and just a _tiny_ bit on edge. P-perhaps I'm just seeing and hearing things? T-that's it! I'm just h-hallucinating! Oh god, I hope I'm just hallucinating!"

He backed up, keeping an eye on the door as his did so. He only took his eyes off of it long enough to grab an action figure from Nina's shelf. Terrible weapon of choice, yes, but there wasn't exactly much else to use. He'd rather have something to throw at the intruder rather than nothing at all.

"Okay, time to go see who's out there." He whispered, trying to will himself to move forward. He really, _really _didn't want to do it though. "Come on! I have to protect them!" He said to himself, glancing over at his two sleeping companions. "If someone or _something_ really is out there, I _have _to protect them." Visions of that awful nightmare instantly came to mind. "Nobody is going to smash their heads in, not so long as I have anything to say about it!"

He inched forward, his heart pounding a mile a minute. What if 'He' really were out there? What would happen then? What would the man do? A toy yeti wouldn't do much to deter him after all. Only the images of Nina and Courage getting their heads smashed in kept Computer moving forward. He wouldn't let that man harm his friends. He wouldn't allow that nightmare to become a reality.

The hallway was pitch black, aside from his glow slightly illuminating the floor and walls around him. He blindly searched for a light but couldn't find one, not that he would have been able to reach it in his tiny dog body anyway. He briefly considered using his new powers to force the lights on, but the memory of being melted was enough of a deterrent to keep him from so much as even sensing where the light switch might be.

Sighing, he continued on his way. Surely 'He' couldn't be here? One bad dream didn't mean anything after all. Falling prey to one's own paranoia was probably the more unhealthy option. Why couldn't he shake the feeling that something was wrong then? No dream had caused such a sensation before.

He stopped at the top of the stairs leading down into the lower level of building. He considered going down there to get a cup of coffee, goodness knows he could have used something to calm his nerves, but then a minor detail caught his attention...

...A detail that sent him running back to Nina's room, practically panicking the whole way there...

"Both of you, wake up! We're in danger!" He cried out, slamming the door shut and locking it as fast as his paws would allow him.

"Wha-?" Nina asked, her head sleepily rising from her pillow.

"Courage, get up! This is an emergency!" He continued, racing over to the dog and dropped down onto his knees beside him.

"Compute, what's-" The pup began. Computer grabbed him by his shoulders and began to shake him, half crazed with fright. This was not the time to keep one's posture! They were all as good as dead for goodness sake!

"'He's' here! He's_ really _here!"

Just having to say that made him go completely numb with terror. The day he had feared for such a long time was finally here. Somehow that dream had been right!

All the color drained out of Courage's face at his words. "T-that can't be! A-are you sure? My dream c-couldn't have..."

Computer swallowed and tried to gather up his thoughts. "I'm absolutely positive that he's here! I heard someone walking around before and went to go see who it was. Remember that we left my body at the top of the stairs before? Well, i-it's not there anymore! I-" He gripped his head, suddenly feeling very woozy. This stupid dog body of his felt like it were suffocating. He almost couldn't breath at all anymore.

"I-I-" He choked out. A million thoughts were running through his panic filled mind and he could not sort even one of them out. His friends were about to die and he would ultimately be captured again! What on earth could he possibly do to stop it? 'He' always won in the end. Always!

Everything felt so far away. A ringing in Computer's ears drowned out everything else. He could see Courage trying to talk to him through his blurred vision but could not hear a word of it. All too suddenly, the floor came rushing up to him.

"Compute? Come on, Compute! Wake up!"

He felt Courage's paws shaking him. He opened his eyes and cringed. How could he have passed out at a time like this? His friends were in danger! Stupid dog body! For a moment there it had felt like it were about to seize up and die with him still in it! Well, perhaps seizing up and dying would have been the easy way out of this nightmare. To think, he had come back from the dead for this!

"Is everything alright?" He asked, slowly sitting back up. "N-nobody tried to get in? Are you both okay?" A whole new wave of fear washed over him as he questioned the dog. So much for keeping calm! He half expected himself to pass out all over again.

"Everything's fine, Compute." Courage answered. "We decided not to go anywhere until you woke back up. Nobody tried to get any or anything."

"That's a relief!" He sighed. "Sorry about that. I-" He silently fought back several metric tons of embarrassment at the thought of having passed out so easily. Courage looked about as sympathetic to his plight as ever, but he could not forgive himself so easily. "So, I guess we're doomed, aren't we?" He asked, shuddering at the thought of it.

"Calm down." Nina spoke. She was still sitting on the bed, her legs dangling over the edge. "Are you sure it wasn't just my dad? He might have moved your body if he came up here."

She _was _right. It could have been her dad. Yet why would both he and Courage have suffered from such a strong sense of foreboding after that nightmare if it didn't at least mean _something_?

"Besides," She continued. "If this 'He' guy really was here, he got what he came for. He's got your body now, right?"

"Yeah!" Courage added. "And he doesn't know that you can jump into other bodies either! You're safe from him now!"

He shook his head. "I can't allow him to take my body! I still need it! And what happens when he finds out I'm not in there anymore? He might come back and, well, who knows what he'll do then!"

Nina shrugged and gave him a somewhat arrogant smile. "Me and my dad live out here in the literal back end of Nowhere. Not a single person is around to help us out. It's not like we've never been the target of some strange people before. We've always had to fight off intruders so stop acting like we can't fend for ourselves!"

He reached a paw out to her in desperation. "Nina, you don't understand..."

She jumped off the bed with another careless shrug. "Look, I don't know much about this 'He' guy, but he can't be that much of a threat if he's just looking for an immobile computer. I'm not going to sit around while he ransacks my dad's house!"

"Wait!" Computer cried out to her. Desperation ripped through him like a knife. Once again he was barraged with the images of both her and Courage getting their heads mercilessly smashed in. Fighting against his own shivering muscles, he swallowed and took a step forward. "I'll go look, alright?"

Courage opened his mouth to protest but he silenced him with a wave of his paw. "If 'He' really is out there, he'd shoot the both of you the moment he sees you, but if he saw a strange glowing dog I'm sure he'd be a lot less likely to shoot first and ask questions later."

"You are _not _going out there alone!" Courage argued.

"I appreciate the sentiment but I don't want either of you to get hurt." He _somehow _managed to force a smile onto his face in a futile effort to comfort the dog. "I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting you, remember? This is my job after all."

Courage shook his head. "And I don't want you to get hurt either! We'll do this as a team and that's that!"

He cringed at the pup's words. Courage's expression easily conveyed his unshakable determination, yet all Computer could see were those last few seconds before his terrified face was smashed in. There had to be _someway_ to convince him to stay put. He couldn't allow the dog to come to harm, not after everything that he had done for him.

"Alright, how about this?" He asked, quickly formulating a plan. "I'll go look around a bit and if I see even the slightest hint of trouble, I'll come running back. Is that acceptable?"

Courage continued to glare at him.

"Work with me, dog!"

"The three of us are going together!" Courage stubbornly replied. "You aren't ditching us!"

"Fine, fine." He relented.

Well, if that wasn't going to work then perhaps he would have to try something a little more...

"So it's settled then?" Nina asked. "We'll all go together!"

"Wait!" He interrupted once more. "If we're going to take on 'Him' then we'll need some weapons, right? It could just be as a precaution but we really should grab a few things just to be safe. Isn't there a room across from this one with a ton of stuff in it?"

"Every room in this building has a little bit of something in it." Nina replied. "We collect a lot of stuff. You aren't going to find an arsenal of weapons though." She placed a finger to her chin. "But I do think my dad has katana lying around somewhere! It's supposed to be cursed though!"

"I don't think we're going to need any exotic weapons. Look, I'll just head over there and grab a few things, okay? Maybe you've got a bat lying around or something? I'll only be gone for a few seconds at most."

"Alright! I've got a box under my bed that I want to look through anyway! If this guy really is such a jerk then maybe I can find a nice cursed artifact for him! I bet he wouldn't like to have slugs come out of his ears every time he wiggles his toes!"

Computer nodded in reply. Perhaps this new scheme of his really would work out...

He turned around to leave the room but Courage followed right after him. Bah! If only he could just shake the dog for a few minutes!

"Wait here." He said to the pup, masking his own frustration as he did so. He reached up to unlock the door but Courage would not back off.

"I'll stand guard and keep an eye out for 'Him', okay?" He asked, shifting around rather nervously on his feet. "Even if you're just crossing the hall it could still be dangerous!"

He suppressed an urge to roll his eyes. Typical Courage! Always finding new ways to annoy him! He'd never be able to pull this off if he couldn't get him to go away!

"Dog, I need you to go do something for me." He said, trying to improvise with a new plan. "In Nina's closet there should be a box with a talisman in it. I think she said it's supposed to offer protection or something but it did look pretty sharp. I bet it would make a nice throwing weapon if we needed it."

There was, of course, no talisman.

Courage placed his paws on his hips and raised an eyebrow. He was clearly suspicious of the request but relented anyway.

"Okay...I'll go see if I can find it."

"Thank you, dog." He sighed. "Hopefully this nightmare will be over with soon..."

He watched as the pup turned around and headed over to the closet. A horrible sense of guilt fell over him, knowing what he was about to do. It wasn't right to betray Courage's trust like this...

Breathing a heavy sigh, he glanced out into the hallway. Nobody was around, just like the last time. The last thing he needed right now was for 'Him' to ambush him.

Moving quickly, he tiptoed his way into the other room. He almost immediately found the kind of thing he was looking for; a folding chair. He had worried that he might have to get a little more colorful with his plan but the chair would certainly work nicely.

Hauling the annoyingly heavy object with with him, he made his way back over to Nina's room, dreading what was about to happen next. He stood in the doorway for a moment and then reached up to grab the door handle. Courage, who had been shuffling through several things in the closet, looked up and immediately caught the guilty expression on his face.

"Compute, why are you-"

"Sorry, guys." He said to them, quickly pulling the door shut.

"Compute, wait!" Courage called out to him.

Ignoring the dog's cries, he took the folding chair and wedged it up against the doorknob, trapping them inside. The light that had once been pouring in from Nina's room was now absent, leaving only his glow to keep the hallway lit. Courage was pounding on the door, pleading with him to be let out. His babbling voice was crying out about how he wanted to help him and that he shouldn't have to face 'Him' alone.

"Sorry, Courage." He murmured, backing away from the door. "You two are all I've got. I can't allow him to hurt you." His back hit the wall on the other side and he let himself slide down it, sighing with relief as he did so. "You're safe in there, so please don't try to get out. He'll kill you if he finds you."

There was no time to sit around. He had to hurry. If he knew Courage for anything it was that he always found a way to escape just about anything. A blocked door wasn't going to stop him for long.

"Alright," He muttered to himself, slowly getting back up into his feet. "It's time to get to the bottom of this and find out what's going on!"

End Of Chapter


	103. Leave Your Sanity At The Door

Chapter 103: Leave Your Sanity At The Door

"Okay, first things first. I should check on Nina's dad. If 'He' was here then he probably would have..." Computer stopped himself halfway through that sentence. It was too difficult to even think about. He couldn't imagine having to bring that news to Nina if the worst were really true...

"No, no, no, worry about that later!" He muttered to himself. "Just check and see how things are for now! If he's hurt or worse, well..." Whatever state Nina's dad might be in, there was nothing he could do about it now. "Bah! This is all my fault! How on earth did 'He' know to look for me here?"

Surprisingly, he no longer dreaded coming into contact with 'Him' or whatever else might have been outside Nina's door. All he cared about was keeping his friends safe, Nina's dad included. If that meant all but sacrificing himself to 'Him' or whatever else might be prowling around in the dark, so be it. He'd rather have them left unharmed no matter what the cost might be. It was almost funny. Back in the forest he had been perfectly willing to leave Courage behind if that meant he could escape being captured by 'Him again. Now he couldn't even bear the thought of leaving Courage to be subjected to the whims of whatever malicious intent 'He' might have.

"Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead!" He quietly chanted to himself as clamored down the steps. He wheeled into the kitchen and made his way through the small hallway leading into the main lobby. He entered half expecting to find a massacre but instead, well, everything was normal.

Nina's dad was quite alive and looking no worse for wear. He had his feet propped up on the desk and his muzzle buried in a book. If some strange intruder had barged his way in, he didn't seem particularly concerned.

"Oh, hello there!" He greeted, lowering his book down onto the desk. "Back for more coffee, hmm? You're going to clean me out, you know!"

"Quick!" Computer cried out, jumping up onto the desk. He was trying very hard to keep calm but at this point he could not wrap his processor around why Nina's dad was unharmed despite the unusual intrusion. "Has anyone tried to get in?" He asked. "Have you seen anything at all? No weird sounds? No strange people lurking about?"

The man calmly waved a paw. "We haven't had a single customer all night."

"Impossible!" Computer exclaimed, pulling at his ears in desperation. "Are you absolutely certain? Someone _must_ have tried to get in!"

"I don't see what the big deal is." Nina's dad replied with a yawn. "We get plenty of nights without any customers."

"Are you sure you haven't heard any strange noises? Like, er, windows breaking or something?"

"Everything's been completely quiet, but, hey, what was up with _that _before, huh?"

Computer blinked. "Er, what was what before?"

"Hmph! That was pretty cold of you, you know!" The ferret responded with another flick of his paw.

"What on earth are you talking about!" Computer snapped, giving Nina's dad a frustrated glare.

"Back when the lights were flickering like that, remember? You came walking by in that weird spider body of yours. I called out to you, but you wouldn't even turn around to look at me!"

Computer stared at him for a moment, not really processing what he had just heard. "W-what?"

…...

"Let us out!" Courage begged, pounding his tiny paws hopelessly on the wooden door. "Compute, please! You don't need to do this all alone! We want to help you! _I _want to help you! I know you're afraid that we'll get hurt, but..but..."

"Courage..." Nina finally spoke. "I don't think he's out there anymore..."

The pup whimpered and slid down the door, placing both his paws over his face. Nina lowered herself down beside him and placed a paw onto his shoulder. He looked so dejected that even she felt awful about it.

"If 'He' really is out there." Courage continued. "Computer will be..." He whimpered again and sunk down even lower.

Nina placed a finger to her lips, hoping to find a way to comfort her friend. "Well, I guess I could break the door down if you gave me a few minutes."

"There's no time!" Courage shot back, jumping up onto his feet. "'He'd' be halfway across Nowhere by then!"

"Seriously, Courage. Just give me-"

The pup ignored her and raced over to the bed. He jumped up onto it and reached over to unlock the window.

"Ah, Courage, what are you doing?" She asked as she watched him vault up onto the windowsill.

"Don't worry! I've done this a bunch of times!" He laughed, reaching down to pull the window open.

"You're going to try and climb down?" She asked, still partly dumbfounded. "We're really high up though! Listen, I can get this door open in just-"

"It's okay! I'll come back and unblock the door for you!" Courage replied, ignoring her efforts to keep him from climbing out. He gave her one last confident smile before crawling his way out through the window and disappearing over the edge.

Nina sighed and turned back to the blocked door. "Both of them never listen, do they? It must come from all that supernatu-"

"_AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"_

_**CRASH!**_

"I told him not to do it..."

She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the door. Maybe if she could just ram it hard enough...

…...

"There is absolutely no way my body is walking around without me in it!" Computer exclaimed to no one in particular. He had gone back to the kitchen and was now sitting at the table, still puzzling over this new development. "It's impossible! There's no way! I barely even have any power left to move in the first place! How could it have gotten anywhere like that?"

Apparently the strange phenomenon had happened while the lights were flickering, something which also seemed to be connect to that awful nightmare. Courage had said that he had been unable to wake him up during that time as well. Could he have been remotely controlling his body? He certainly didn't remember doing anything like that. He had been a bit busy watching his friends get killed while he melted to death...

"None of this makes any sense." He groaned. He let his muzzle touch the table and rubbed his bleary eyes.

Tired, he was so tired. He hadn't gotten even an ounce of decent sleep. If anything, that nightmare had sapped more energy from him than anything else. Coming back from the dead was hard enough, but this was just madness!

"Alright, gotta keep moving." He sighed. "I'll have to check every room in this building. I'm bound to find something eventually, whether it be 'Him' or this supposed evil twin of mine."

He jumped down from the table chair and glanced around, wondering where to begin. This building was far too big for its own good.

"I guess I'll start on the first floor and work my way up..."

Cringing at the size of this new task, he hobbled back over to the stairs.

…...

_**THUMP!**_

Courage forced the door to main lobby open, looking particularly unamused. He was covered in old banana peels and a whole assortment of nasty garbage.

"Hey, Courage!" Nina's dad greeted him with a wave. "How did you get outside?" He asked, his cheerful expression faltering for a moment.

"Don't ask..." Courage groaned, peeling a thick glop of rancid, long hardened, sour milk out of his fur.

"Well, you just missed your friend." Nina's dad went on. "I'd say he left maybe five minutes ago. Said he was going back to bed."

"He did?" Courage gasped. He doubted Computer had actually meant that when he said he was going back to bed, but at least he was safe! "Hey, you haven't seen anyone strange around, have you?" He asked the puzzled ferret.

"Man, you guys ask the same questions. No, we haven't had a single person show up all night."

"Okay, see you later!" He quickly said, dismissing the poor, confused ferret before he could ask anymore questions.

He raced down the hallway as fast as his paws could take him. He hoped beyond hope that Computer would still be in the kitchen once he got there. He'd have to give that machine one heck of an angry rant later, but right now he'd just be glad to make sure he was safe.

"Oh, no..." He whimpered, sliding to a stop. The kitchen was deserted.

Where would have Computer gone now? Had...had 'He' taken him?

No! Courage would not allow that to happen! He'd chase that man across Nowhere if he had too, regardless of his own illness hindering him! Computer would not be tormented by that monster again!

"Ooooh, Computer, where are you?" He whimpered, taking a step back. "'He's' not really here, is he? There's no way he could be."

"Courage? Are you down there?"

"Nina?" He asked, glancing over at the stairs.

"I'm up here!" She called out to him.

He made his way over to the stairs and looked up. She was there at the top, grinning down at him.

"See! I told you I could get that door open! Why couldn't you have just waited?"

Courage gave her a sheepish laugh.

"Well, anyway. Come up here. There's something you need to see!"

He really didn't want to have to walk upstairs given how tired he already was, but he supposed he'd risk an attack for Computer's sake...

"Hurry!" She exclaimed, rushing him on.

It took a lot of effort, but he made it to the top. He was left heavily panting for several seconds, clutching his chest and hoping dearly that he wouldn't be subjected to another attack. Thankfully the worst of it slowly diminished after a minute or two.

"Look!" She exclaimed again, pointing to her right.

He gasped, knowing exactly what he and Computer had left sitting there before.

"Wasn't the whole reason he was freaking out because..." Nina trailed off.

Computer's body was there, seemingly not having been moved at all...

"T-this is exactly where we left it before." Courage said, placing a paw on the cool metal. "I'm sure he would have noticed it sitting here."

"Great, so he had us all scared over nothing!"

Courage shook his head. "There's no way he would have acted that terrified unless he had a good reason for it."

"Then why is his body still sitting here after all that fuss he gave us! I can't believe I was woken up for this!"

Courage closed his eyes and sighed, just as confused as Nina was, and even a little bit angry himself. Why had Computer sent them on a wild goose chase over nothing? What the heck was happening here?

"You know what?" He asked. "He's been pretty tired ever since he was revived. You don't think he's been seeing things, do you?"

"After how he so stupidly had himself cursed before? It's obvious that he's got a few screws loose. I wouldn't put is past him."

Courage bit his lip as he tried to piece this all together. The only explanation was that Computer had mistaken his body for missing and assumed the worse. Courage had to admit though, after that creepy dream, he had expected 'Him' to show up at just about any moment. But why had Computer been so on edge too? What had he been dreaming about before?

"Why is none of this adding up?" He asked himself. "I really need to find out what he's up to..."

…...

"Nothing, nothing, nothing!" Computer snapped. "Why can't I find anything but junk in this stupid building?"

Ten rooms! He'd been through ten room already and not found a single clue to this mystery! He had not caught a glimpse of his real body or even 'Him' who could still very much be prowling around. He'd left not a single box unturned, not a single corner unchecked. If there were any nook or cranny for anyone to hide, he would have seen it.

"I'm going to be up all night at this rate..." He groaned, rubbing his eyes again for what felt like the millionth time. "There's got to be at least a hundred rooms that I still need to check."

Stifling a yawn, he moved on to the next room. Boxes were piled up to the ceiling in this one. It almost reminded him of that one room in his, Courage's, or whoever's mind that was. Well, hopefully Nina wasn't storing any demonic clown toys around...

He glanced over at one of the unusual towers and wondered if anyone could really hide among such a tightly packed space. The possibility of being ambushed had been heavy on his mind all night, but it didn't seem very likely that he'd...

_**Click, click, click...**_

He whirled around, desperate to catch where that sound was coming from...and stumbled backwards when he briefly came face to face with 'His' jeering grin.

"Wait! No, don't!" He cried out, bringing his paws up to his face.

...But then nothing happened...

He slowly opened his eyes, wondering why 'He' hadn't done anything to him yet. Was he toying with him? Yes, that had to be it. The bastard always loved toying with him.

"W-what?" He asked, staring up at the strange object in front of him. It was a dress hanger, vaguely in shape of a human form. It looked like something you'd hang a wedding dress on, or...

"But...why did it..." He trailed off, still too stunned to put anything together. For a moment there he had been so certain that he was about to be captured and taken away again.

The only explanation he could come up with was that he had mistaken the strange object for 'Him' in the low lighting his glow gave off. He was certainly on edge enough to get spooked out by just about anything right now.

"But it seemed so real..." He murmured to himself. "How could I-"

A finger tapped his shoulder at that very moment and he very nearly leaped right out of his skin.

"Did you really think I wouldn't get that door open?"

He turned around, shaking like a leaf. Nina was standing there, her arms arms crossed and looking particularly annoyed.

"What's the big idea, huh?" She asked. Her voice was absolutely dripping with anger.

He cringed as he tried to find a way to explain everything to her. Turning back to the creepy dress thing, he sighed and begin speak. "Look, there's something strange going on and I-"

He was stopped mid sentence yet again when he was grabbed by the shoulder and turned back around once more. He came nearly nose to nose with Courage who was outright growling at him in his anger.

"Oh, hello, Courage!" He laughed sheepishly, half expecting the dog to open his mouth and try to rip his muzzle off. "Fancy meeting you here! Hehehe! About that whole door thing, I, um..."

"Rrrrr..."

"D-don't look at me like that, dog!"

"Ablububub!"

"Spare me the colorful language!" He sighed, pushing the dog away. "We've got bigger fish to fry after all! It appears that I may or may not have an evil twin running around."

"You don't have anything!" Nina snapped, poking him squarely in the nose. "Why the heck did you wake us up and then lock us in my room over nothing!"

"It wasn't for nothing!" He shot back. "I'm just trying to keep you both safe!"

"From what? Your body is sitting exactly were you left it! This was really, really stupid, you know!"

"W-what?" He asked. He let his eyes flick back and forth between his two friends. They both continued to glare at him. _Clearly_ they weren't angry for no reason. "T-there's no way! I-I know what I-"

He pushed past both of them and ran down the hall. There was no way his body was where they had left it! He knew for a fact that it hadn't been there! He couldn't have been mistaken!

He raced up the stairs and...felt his heart drop as his real body came into view. They'd been right. It was still sitting there just like normal...

"See!" Nina cried out as she caught up with him.

"I-I don't get it." He murmured, placing a paw onto his head. He reached out and touched the machine, just make sure it really _was _there. He all but expected it to vanish into thin air.

"I know what I saw!" He exclaimed, turning back to his two friends. "It wasn't here before! A-and your dad, Nina! H-he said he saw it moving around before without me in it!"

"Compute," Courage spoke. "How could your body move without you in it?" His voice was ridiculously accusing, something which infuriated him more than anything else.

"Yeah," Nina added. "After everything that's happened to you today, I'm sure you're just tired. You thought you didn't see your body and freaked out, that's it."

He shook his head, growing even more angry with their dismissal of all this. "Oh, I see." He growled, pointing a finger at Courage. "When strange things happen to you that make you question your sanity, it's just a normal 'supernatural' day for you! But when it happens to me, _obviously _I'mjust losing my marbles!"

Courage stared at him for a moment and then replied with a soft, "I never said you were crazy. I'm just saying that your body is right here and it's perfectly fine. Can't we just drop this and go back to bed?"

"Augh! Knock it off!" Computer snapped at him, running his paws down his tired face. "Both of you stop looking at me like I need to be committed! I know what I saw and I know what Nina's dad said! Something's going on here and you two idiots need to stop blowing me off like I'm losing it!"

"Compute, you _are _acting like your losing it." Nina replied softly. "Don't get so angry, okay? I can talk to my dad and see what he says but-"

"Don't bother! _Obviously _I'm just insane!" He shot back, crossing his arms.

Courage took a step forward and glared at him. "Aburururu!"

His eyes widened at the pup's words. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side, dog?" He forced his shocked expression back into a scowl. "Hmph! Fine! I'll prove to you both that there's something fishy going on here!"

"I _am _on your side!" Courage argued. "Please, Compute! Let's-"

He took several steps back, still glaring at the dog as he did so. "I know there's something weird going on here! I won't sit around and listen to a pack of fools who think I'm going crazy!"

He turned and ran, ignoring their cries for him to come back. Sighing, he fought back his growing disappointment at having them both turn on him like that.

"I'll show them!" He fumed. "If they get hurt, it's their own fault now! I tried my best to protect those idiots! Bah! I'll make them see!"

End Of Chapter


	104. The Mystery Deepens

A/N: Chapters 25 through 28 have been rewritten and this is probably the biggest case of 'go back and read it again!' I'll ever give you. I'm ALMOST done with the outright rewrites but I've still got a few more to go. That female dog's role has been extended and I took some time to flesh her out a little bit more. Yes, she will have another roll in this story somewhere down the line. (Oh noes! Spoiler!1!) So yeah, it's pretty important that you reread her part. Computer's jerkassery levels have been upped by a good 50% percent. His argument with the female dog has been improved and hopefully works a little bit better. Courage's big blowup has also been rewritten and should seem a little less out of nowhere now. I made sure to build up to it a little better and with Computer's heavier jerkass attitude, it just works a lot better now. Oh, and last but not least, the name of chapter 26 has been changed to reflect girl doggy's new increased roll. (Man, this is starting to feel like patch notes!)

Chapter 104: The Mystery Deepens

"Oh no..." Courage whimpered yet again. Man, he really had to stop doing that!

"Go after him!" Nina exclaimed. "You gotta try to talk some sense into him!" She glanced down the staircase and then back over at him. "I'll go talk to my dad and see what he said to him. That'll at least put one thing straight!"

"A-alright."Courage replied rather nervously. "But, I don't know if he'll listen to me now. Y-you don't think I came off as a little too harsh on him?"

"It's too late to take it back now! Hurry! He's getting farther away!" Nina shot back.

He nodded weakly and took off after the machine. He was getting very tired at this point though. His condition wouldn't allow him to move much faster and if he strained himself any harder...

"Compute, wait!" He called out, unable to keep up his pace. He just couldn't run anymore. His chest felt like it were turning into stone and his lungs felt like they were crumpling into dust.

The glowing dog turned and glared at him from across the hall. "Stop following me!" He shouted. "Go away! I'm going to prove to you both that you're wrong!"

"Abububublue!" Courage huffed out at him.

"Hmph! I won't be made a complete fool of yet _again_!" He replied, crossing his arms. "If you two won't listen to me then I'll just work alone! I certainly don't need either of you!"

"ARRRUUU!" Courage cried out. He had used this distraction to slowly close the distance between him and Computer. Had the machine not stopped, he doubted he would have ever been able to catch up with him.

"Abaru! Abublbu! Bububu!" He went on, not bothering to amend his gibberish.

Computer's expression lightened as he babbled on. He shuffled from one foot to the next before quietly asking, "You...don't think I'm losing it then?"

Courage nodded.

"But I thought you-"

"Aburu!" He snapped, interrupting his friend. Sighing with frustration, he continued in slightly less broken English. "If you think something's wrong then I believe you."

The glowing dog was stunned silent. He was _clearly _taken aback by his willingness to side with him, even when it seemed like he was going nuts.

"And if I'm wrong?" He asked, crossing his arms again.

Courage gave him a shrug. "I won't hold you to it. Just don't lock me in anymore rooms, okay?"

Computer seemed surprisingly skeptical about all of this. He gave Courage a querying glare before turning away.

"What?" Courage asked, stepping forward. "Compute?"

The machine turned back around, still looking skeptical. "Are you trying to get back on my good side so that you can convince me to stop all of this?"

Courage recoiled at his question. "W-what? No! Of course not! I-I'm not tricking you at all! I swear!"

Now it was his turn to shrug. "I don't get it. Five seconds ago you were completely against me, but now you've suddenly decided to go along with this?"

"Oh, um, well." Courage replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I just figured that since I'm your friend, I should take your concerns a little more seriously. We're supposed to stick together, remember? If you think something's wrong, I'll believe you." And, I-" He trailed off with a sigh. "I don't want you to stay mad at me either."

This elicited a small smile out of Computer. "Alright, fine. We'll consider it a truce then. You believe me in that I saw something strange and I'll believe you in that you aren't trying to trick me."

"It's a deal!" Courage laughed. "But, what are we going to do now then?"

"Well, I was going to check as many rooms as possible." He replied. "I want to see if I can find anything unusual. There's got to be an explanation for what I saw and whoever or whatever might have caused it, they could still be lurking around here."

"You don't think it's really 'Him', do you?" Courage asked quietly. The thought of it terrified him quite a bit, much to his surprise. That awful nightmare had really left an impression on him, it seemed. Even now he couldn't shake the feeling that 'He' would suddenly appear and attack them all.

Computer shook his head, very briefly revealing just how tired he was too. "I don't know, but I can't rule out the possibility either. It would be just like him to mess with my head for old time's sake. For all we know, that Fear Eater could be trying to get it's revenge on us."

"But why would it pick now to start messing with us again? It's had plenty of chances since we left the forest."

Computer shrugged with an exhausted sigh. "Who knows. I just want to get to the bottom of this, that's all. It could be anything, and yes, I could be losing it too, but..."

Courage smiled. "How about we look around first before considering that?"

"Well, aren't you singing a new tune?" He sighed. "Alright, how about I take one side of the hallway and you the other. We can check each room a lot easier that way. But-" His tone became quiet again. "If you see anything, anything at all, get out of there as fast as possible. Don't confront whoever or whatever might be causing this. I don't want you to get hurt under any circumstances."

"Coming from someone who just locked his two friend's in a room and ran off all alone? You're one to talk!" Courage laughed.

"I can take care of myself." He huffed. "But you? You bumble your way into every unusual occurrence without the slightest bit of forethought. How can I possibly keep up with that? I can't really help you when the monster has already devoured you, you know."

"I've been doing this my whole life." Courage sharply replied. He was admittedly a bit offended that Computer was suddenly being so protective. "Don't baby me like a little kid! I've survived everything else that's ever happened to me! I-I know how to deal with these things!"

"Yes, but you weren't sick all those other times. I'm afraid you just can't do all the things you used to do. What if you were to have an attack at the worst possible moment? What if I couldn't get to you in time? You must factor in such issues or else it will end up being the last thing you ever do!"

Courage cringed at his words. He didn't like having his illness put up to the forefront like this, especially when it hadn't been hindering him as much the last couple of days. "But I've been doing a lot better now! I-I haven't been having as many attacks and I'm not getting as tired as I used to!"

"Ah, but when you do have another attack, you will be helpless against it. I've seen what little you can do to fight one when it comes on. What if it were to happen while you were facing whatever might be in this building on your own? You'd be as good as dead."

"Okay, okay!" He relented. "I'll run away if I see anything strange! But-" He took several steps forward, passing Computer by. "I'm not helpless, got that?"

He heard the machine chuckle. "Fine, you're not helpless. You're just dependency challenged."

…...

"So, dad really did see Computer's body walk by." Nina said to herself. She went over to the refrigerator in the kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk. "Man, he's really not going to like hearing that." She went on, staring at her glass of milk for a second and then gulping it down.

She walked over to the table and sat down, letting out a huge yawn as she did so. "I'm so tired." She groaned. "Why does all this weird stuff have to happen in the middle of the night? How am I ever supposed to pursue my dream job if all the ghosts and ghouls wait till four in the morning to come out and cause trouble?"

Sighing, she leaned back into her chair and stretched. "I hope Courage managed to calm him down by now. He really was right about all this so I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it from him now. How was I supposed to kno-"

_Click, click, click..._

She froze up in that instant. Something was very, very wrong indeed. She could 'feel' the presence of someone or something standing behind her. A weak clicking sound could be heard along with a nearly silent 'thumping' as whatever it was moved around.

_'Computer's body?'_ She wondered. Unfortunately, she was too paralyzed with fear to turn around and look. It almost felt like there was a hand, or something worse, right behind her neck and then in a moment of terror, she remembered how Computer jumped from one body to another.

She whipped around, figuring that she'd rather face whatever this thing was than have her body hijacked from her. Breathing heavily, she found that there was nothing behind her at all.

"What the heck?" She gasped, waiting for her heart to stop pounding. She placed a paw to her neck and shivered. How close had she just come to having her body hijacked?

"How could it have gotten away that fast though?" She asked herself. "Am I going nuts too? M-maybe I'm just-"

There was only one answer to this. She'd have to go check and see if Computer's body was still sitting where they had left it. Something strange _was _going on here and now she was getting spooked out by it too.

"It left dad alone." She whispered, trying to calm herself. "It can't really be dangerous, and even then, it had a chance to attack us back there and didn't."

Continuing to puzzle over this oddity, she stood up and walked over to the steps. Thankfully there weren't any robot spiders around to greet her. As far as she could tell, nobody was around.

"Coast is clear." She sighed. "Alright, if I'm ever going to be a supernatural detective then I have to learn how to solve cases like this!" She clasped her paws together in determination. "Sleep is for weak! For the people who are afraid of the dark! Ha! I'll shows all those ghosts and monsters who their real boss is!"

Extremely happy with this new turn of events and her new outlook on it, she stopped about halfway up the steps to plan her next action. She had to wonder what would happen if she went up there and found the machine still sitting there like normal. Would that mean that she was going crazy too?

"Maybe it's just 'playing dead'." She speculated. "Trying to make us doubt ourselves or something. Well, it's doing a good job of that, I guess." She placed a paw to her chin and continued up the staircase. "Wait! Maybe it only moves when nobody is looking at it! I bet it's like those-"

She cut herself off as she reached the floor she was trying to get to. Much to her dismay, Computer's body really _was _gone this time. Whatever confidence she had gained was slowly draining away at the sight of it.

"Not good..." She whimpered.

There was, no matter which way she tried to slice it, an unknown being lurking in her house, and who knew what it might try to do...

End Of Chapter

A/N: Sorry for the delay and a very lackluster chapter. Things have been a bit hectic for me the last few weeks and I haven't really had the time or the desire to write. This chapter was meant to go on for quite a bit longer but I figured you guys would rather have an update now rather than have to keep waiting for it. The next chapter will probably just end up being the rest of this one and thus will end up being pretty short too. A word of warning though, Pokemon X and Y come out next week and it will be consuming my life for a time. Don't expect too many updates this month because of it LOL. Pokemon is life, after all!


	105. Musings Of A Sleepy Dog

A/N: Before we get going, I need to do a PSA. Fan Fiction Net has blocked the ability to highlight stories, thus making it impossible to rip them from the site as a form of 'copy protection'. Supposedly this is to stop people from plagiarizing other people's work, but it's bullshit through and through. If someone wants to plagiarize a story, they'll find a way to do it no matter what. This is punishing the majority for the actions of a few. Face it, we're on the internet. If you put something on here for the public to see, you cannot expect it to be left alone, much less not be stolen.

Those who are blind can no longer copy a story's text into a program that will translate it into braille, stories can no longer be highlighted for people who have a hard time keeping their place, dyslexics can no longer copy text into a writing program so that they can blow up the font to read it better, sites that allow stories on here to be downloaded onto certain devices so that they can be read offline no longer work. The list goes on and on. People who have legitimate reasons to be able to highlight text should not be punished.

For me personally, after having so many stories I enjoy randomly vanish off the site along with their author, I almost always archive stories that I like now. I keep them on my hard drive FOR MY OWN PERSONAL USE and never plagiarize anything. Hell, once I forgot to save an updated version of a chapter from this story and ended up copying it from here to replace the old file.

Supposedly there is an upcoming update that will allow authors to disable this new measure. It will not, of course, count for the scores of authors who either no longer use this site or don't have the time to disable this on all their stories. If the DRM-like measure we are currently seeing MUST be implemented for the people who are so concerned about their stories being stolen, then it should not be the default option. Let a user who is worried about theft enable this option themselves, don't make the whole of the site have to suffer for it. It should not be the default option.

So, how have the admins reacted to the countless complaints about this? Complete radio silence, of course. Obviously the best way to deal with your user base is to pretend they don't exist, after all! They have given us no in depth explanation for why they did this, nor have they responded to any of the criticism. They have not addressed any of the legitimate reasons people have given for why they highlight stories, and just seem to assume everyone has used it for plagiarism only. The ability to highlight and copy stories is too valuable to be disabled by default. Please, even if this doesn't effect you, make your voice heard. The admins can't go about ignoring EVERYONE. There is no reason why stories put on here have to be 'locked onto the site', especially when many author delete their writing without warning and when many people need to be able to take the text off this site for various reasons. This is a public medium. When you put something on here you can no longer expect it to belong to you alone. The same goes for anything else you put out for the public to see. Pictures, videos, comments, it doesn't matter. An important feature like this should not be removed for the 'safety' of a few who cannot handle the way the internet works.

I've dealt with plagiarism myself. The first chapter of this story was put up almost word for word on DeviantART by a certain user. Yes, I did ask them to stop, but I didn't flip my lid over it. I figured that if someone reading the 'plagiarized' version likes it well enough, they'd eventually look around and find the real version. Yes, I would be pretty unhappy if someone took this whole story and claimed it to be their own, but I sure as hell wouldn't ask to lock down a whole site just to stop it. Besides, if they want to steal it, they'll eventually find a way. Just like how you can't stop pirates from pirating films, music, and whatever other piratey stuff pirates pirate.

Well, onto the story! Sorry for making you guys wait this long! One of these days I'll have to put this into a downloadable format, especially with the way things are right now on this site. With a story this long I'm sure it would be helpful for many readers to be able to read it in an offline state.

…...

Chapter 105: Musings Of A Sleepy Dog

Courage peered into yet another room and stepped inside. The moonlight shining in through the window was the only thing that allowed him to see where he was going. He found boxes, odds and ends, a few old pictures too dusty to be hung on any wall, but nothing else.

"Nobody in here either." He murmured to himself. "Would an intruder really hide from us this long? They could have murdered us ten times over by now if they really wanted to. If 'He' really were here, would he sit around and wait this long for us to find him?"

Yawning, he turned and glance out the doorway into the room across the hall. Computer was there, his blue glow lighting up the dark room and much of the hallway with it. He was trying to open a small box, looking particularly cautious as he did so.

Courage shook his head with a smile. Did he really think he'd find 'Him' in there? He watched as Computer pulled out an old wristwatch from within the box and tossed it away in annoyance. He bit back a laugh at the sight of it.

He had grown fond of Computer's eccentricities, when the machine actually allowed them to shine through of course. For as much posturing as he put into acting like a 'prim and proper' machine, it was the smaller things, things which clashed with his apparent nature, that really stood out. It was the little things like his misunderstandings about humans, confusion over something as simple as being a decent friend, and even his outright coffee addiction that showed Courage what he was really like under all that blind cynicism. It proved that he wasn't always 'above it all' and that he certainly wasn't as perfect as he liked to pretend.

Actually, if their journey had really proven anything about him, it was that he wasn't as spectacular as he had always put himself up to be. He was more than just a little fallible and above everything else, human. Courage could have believed at any point in his life that Computer was nearly omniscient, being able to give him solutions to even the most obscure supernatural threats, but now it seemed like the internet itself was the actual infallible part of the equation. Deprived of his information source, Computer was just about as human as anyone else. He claimed to hate having 'flesh creature' emotions for ruining his mechanical perfection, but he had probably never had that perfection to begin with.

Suddenly, Courage was assaulted by a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Conflicting feelings of fear, hopelessness, and desperation ran through him like a jolt of electricity. It had hit him so hard and so quickly that he almost couldn't believe it had happened in the first place. He fought back a whimper, having been reminded that Computer was dying, just like he was. It was unbelievable. A complete impossibility. He could not imagine a day where his annoying, grumpy computer wasn't around to give him his sarcastic, yet helpful advice. It just wouldn't click in his mind. Computer was a permanent fixture on the farm and nothing would ever make him imagine it being otherwise. He was suddenly getting a taste of what he was sure Muriel and Eustace had felt when they themselves had gotten his own fatal diagnosis. He knew that he too was probably a permanent fixture in their minds as well.

There was more to it then just that as well. He valued Computer's company more than anything now. It shocked him just to realize it, but it was, undoubtedly, a truth now. For the first time in his life, he had a friend and a companion. Yes, he had made many, many friends over the years, but this was so much different. Rarely did he ever see any of his so called 'friends' again, and while his enemies came back over and over again, none of his allies ever returned, not even to just say 'hi'. Barring a few minor cases like Shirley, he had largely been alone his whole life, and even then, she was about as cold as anyone could be. Computer himself had been the same way up until their journey as well, and his transformation was truly a sight to behold.

For all the love and affection someone like Muriel showered on Courage, they were ultimately on different levels. He was her dog and she was his master. There was a barrier between them that insured they'd never be on equal terms. So long as Muriel couldn't understand what he was saying, he'd always be lower than her. He could never hope to be the son she'd never had and she could never hope to be the 'replacement mother' she had always wanted to be. But Computer? Courage now had someone he could talk to, someone who'd listen to him and converse with him all at the same time. For almost the entirety of his life on the farm, he'd never had anyone except his two owners who never understood a word coming out of his mouth. He had, on some level, always longed for a real friendship with someone on the same terms as him. Eustace, of course, would have never allowed another dog on the farm, and while many of Muriel's friends in Nowhere had dogs of their own, the animals had always been incredibly cruel to him. He now had someone who was on equal terms with him, the second dog he had always wanted, and who, ironically, had always been there in the first place.

Surely that feeling was mutual for Computer as well? He too had spent his entire life without a single friend on his side. The only way he could combat his dehumanization was by pretending, and eventually convincing himself, that he was on a higher level than everyone else. This had, of course, destroyed what little hope he had of forging even the smallest of friendships with someone. To make friends meant that he'd have to consider himself equal to someone else, and he wouldn't have never lowered himself down to that level. Even when it came to his friend who had been shot by 'Him', he had never actually considered him a friend until long after he died.

Courage yawned again and turned away from the door. He walked over to the window on the other side of the room and stared out of it, still lost in thought. Computer's near death, which had seemed very real for those two hours he had endured it, had given him a mortifying shock that he could not shake off. Not even the joy he had felt upon finding out that his friend had somehow pulled through dulled the despair that he had felt beforehand. It left a cold ache in his chest and his heart beating faster every time the memory of it wormed its way back into his mind. He could no longer push away certain awful thoughts. Things that he always considered too terrible to think about. Things that were suddenly a bleak reality in his mind.

He could suddenly imagine Muriel collapsing while doing the laundry or washing the dished. He could see himself standing there, unable to do anything for her as the ambulance made its way to the farm. While he could save her from any outside threat, he could not save her from her own failing body. She'd die of a heart attack or stroke and he'd be completely alone. If Eustace hated him enough now, he'd certainly hate him even more once she was gone. He shuttered to think of what that old farmer might do to him without Muriel around to stop it. The simple fact was, if he survived his illness, he'd eventually have to face Muriel's looming death. He wouldn't even have Computer around to help him get through it. He knew that one day he'd go up into the attic only to find that terrible ERROR message on his screen. In the end, he'd lose both of them, and the thought of it left him in complete despair.

And what if Eustace went first? Courage had seen first hand how badly Muriel had taken Eustace's various disappearances. If he was the one to die first, Muriel would almost certainly waste away from her sorrow. No matter how greedy, how awful, how rude, how cruel that man was, Muriel still loved him no less. The true irony of it all would be that he would begin hating Eustace for taking Muriel away. He'd end up hating the old man just as much as he hated him, and for the same reason too. Eustace's death would be his own ironic revenge. He'd make him have to feel the same way he himself had spent so long feeling. Their competition for Muriel's love would ultimately follow them to the grave.

And yet, despite all this, Courage knew that he couldn't let himself die either. He was afraid, so afraid to die, and beyond that, he had to think about what it would do to his family. He would take the pain of his illness for an eternity if that meant he wouldn't have to cause them the pain that his own death would inevitably bring about. Muriel would waste away just as easily as Eustace's death would cause. She simply could not bear to live among a broken family, and she was getting far too old to find a new purpose in life without them. What if she really did lose both him and Eustace? Why should she be subjected to such a lonely end after an entire lifetime of unbiased love and kindness? No, Courage would not allow that to happen. He wanted to be there for her when her end came. He would accept a lonely existence without her, Eustace and Computer if that just meant they wouldn't have to suffer in the end. He hated to think about how badly Computer would take his death. He really would end up rotting away in that attic forever. Actually, Courage suspected that he'd simply allow his system to collapse, just like he had always intended. He clearly didn't want to go on if that meant he'd have to be alone again. Now that he knew what it was like to-

Courage jumped as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Whirling around, he came face to face with Computer. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't even noticed the blue glow lighting up the room around him.

"You've been standing there for ages, dog. What's the problem?" He asked, looking rather surprised.

Courage returned his gaze back to the window. "N-nothing. I was just thinking a bit, that's all."

"About what?" He asked, his tone growing confused. "And what was so important that you had to spend ten minutes thinking about it?"

"Nothing in particular." He replied with a shrug.

Computer took a step forward so that they were both side to side. He too took a look out the window, obviously wondering what was out there that had enraptured his friend so deeply. When he didn't find an answer, he turned to Courage again.

"I don't get it." He sighed. "Let me guess, this is one of those weird flesh creature things that I will never understand."

Courage slapped his forehead in disbelief. It wasn't out of annoyance but amusement. Computer was just so strange sometimes.

"I was thinking to myself, that's it. It's not a big mystery!" He laughed.

His glowing companion craned his head to the side. "For ten minutes?"

"Augh! Why are you getting hung up on the ten minutes part!"

"Hmm, does that mean your brain is so slow that it actually takes you ten minutes just to contemplate a single thought?"

"Now you're just being mean!" He cried out. "Hmph! You're not being a very good friend, you know! I thought you were trying to be a 'better person', huh?"

Computer turned around and made his way back over to the door. "It's not my fault if you're brain dead."

"I-I am not brain dead!" He shot back.

Computer gave him a wave of his paw. "There's no other logical explanation I can come up with for why it took you ten minutes just to _think_."

Courage slapped his forehead again. "Computers! Everything's always about logic, isn't it?"

"Psh! Flesh creatures! Not one of you ever make even an ounce of sense!" He argued back. He turned out the door and could still be heard grumbling as he walked down the hallway. "Standing around like an idiot for ten minutes just to _think_! Honestly!"

Courage smiled and went after him. As soon as he caught up to him he slowed his pace down a bit so that he wouldn't tire himself out, at least not anymore than he already was. Computer seemed to take the hint and slowed down a bit as well.

"It appears that we only have four more rooms on this level to check out." He announced. "That's not, of course, adding all of the other floors beneath us." He added that last part rather dryly. His face showed the clear displeasure he had at the daunting task they had ahead of them.

"Maybe we should stop." Courage suggested to him. "Don't you think that if someone were around they would have done something by now? We're both pretty tired and-" He stopped himself halfway through that sentence, worried that Computer might take it the wrong way. He thankfully hadn't.

"I know, I know." He replied, rubbing his eyes. "But I just can't shake this sense of foreboding. I _know _something is wrong, but I can't-"

"I felt the same way after my dream." Courage interrupted him. "It felt like something awful was about to happen and I couldn't shake the feeling no matter how hard I tried. It was like..." He trailed off.

"Oh, about that." Computer went on. A mildly guilty expression fell across his face. "I lied before about not dreaming anything. It appears that I experienced the same dream that you did. You were so freaked out after I woke up that I didn't want to make things worse. I was going to wait to tell you later but I figured now would be as good of a time as any and our shared dream might have something to do with what's going on right now."

"Wait, so what you're saying is that you saw the same 'event' in your dream as I did?" Courage asked. This suddenly created a whole new layer to his dream, one that was even more horrifying than before. If Computer had experienced the exact same thing, and now that they were both being plagued by the same ominous feeling, what could it mean?

"You saw me, Nina, and her dad being murdered?" He went on. "Y-you saw 'Him' drag us in and..."

Computer's eyes widened upon being reminded of that grizzly scene and then his expression slowly became even more guilt ridden. "Unfortunately, yes. I couldn't do anything to help any of you. I was stuck in my real body. Trust me, I tried though..."

"Compute, this was kinda important! How could you not say anything? T-that dream was so real and now we have all these weird things going on! How could you not bring up the fact that we just had the same dream? Of all the things that we should be on the same page about, it's that!"

"I told you already, I didn't want to panic you any further!" He argued back. "You were practically in hysterics after I woke up and I didn't want to make it worse!"

"Well, you could have brought it up after all the strange sounds and the general weirdness that's been going on!"

"A-alright!" He relented. "It was a bad call! As was locking you and Nina into a room! I didn't think things through, okay? Are you happy now?"

Courage's anger dissipated almost immediately. He couldn't help but begin to smile. "I don't believe it! Computer, is that you actually being humble?"

"Only because you're pulling my leg." He grumbled. "Or more like amputating it..." He added in much quieter.

"Well, it's okay, I guess." He sighed. "I know about it now and it's not like it's helping us understand this situation any better anyway."

"I'm almost certain that it has something to do with what's going on right now." Computer replied. "I mean, what else could it possibly be? Sharing the same unnaturally realistic dream, the flickering lights, the strange sounds, my body randomly vanishing, it has to be connected."

"You don't think the rings have something to do with it? Maybe seeing each others dreams is a side effect of using them. We only know the basics of how they work and that hobo didn't really go into all the details either. He might have forgotten to mention something like this."

Computer rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. "I knew nothing good could come of all that dream nonsense! Who knows what other long lasting effects it could have on our minds. And that doesn't even begin to explain why all this weirdness is happening right now! The 'collective unconscious' or whatever it's called isn't leaking into the real world, is it?"

"We'll just have to find out." Courage replied, taking a step forward. "I'm glad we still did it though, even if it really might have done something to our heads."

"Oh really?" Computer grumbled out sarcastically. "Getting humiliated over and over again wasn't exactly what I would call a 'liberating' experience, thank you very much! And now I might have brain damage to boot! It wasn't even slightly worth it if you ask me!"

"I'd say it was." Courage chuckled, glancing over his shoulder just to catch Computer's scowling expression. "I got to know you a lot better and saw first hand some of awful things you went through. It's good that you got a chance to accept and overcome some of your problems and that I got a chance to understand what things have been like for you."

"I didn't overcome anything." He heard Computer softly reply. "I just learned how to cope a little better, that's all. Hardly an improvement."

"That's just as good, don't you think? So long as you don't let it all build up and get the better of you again. That's what the hobo said to avoid."

"Easier said than done..." He grumbled.

Courage turned and gave him a quizzical look. "Is there something you're not bring up?"

He recoiled at the question. "No, of course not! What is it that _you _are saying, hmm?"

Courage suppressed a laugh at Computer's startled reply. "For someone who's always so well spoken, you really are a bad liar."

"I-I'm not lying about anything!" He gasped. "Look, dog! When you have emotional baggage half the size of Texas, things start to-"

"Texas?" He laughed. "Emotional baggage? Is that what you're calling it now?"

Computer threw his paws up into the air. "What else am I supposed to call it? The amount of hours I _should _be spending in therapy?"

Courage snorted with laughter. "Yeah, that's probably it."

He hung his head with a sigh. "Hmph! I'm glad you think it's funny."

"Because it is!"

"You truly are hopeless."

"You're the one who made the joke!"

"It wasn't supposed to be a joke!"

"Heeey!" Came Nina's panicked voiced from down the hall.

"Oh, what now." Computer groaned. "I hope nothing else has happened."

She rushed over to them, her tail all but completely puffed out in alarm. She was gasping for breath as she choked out, "I've been looking everywhere for you two! You were right, Computer! Dad said he saw your body moving before...and...and when I went upstairs, it was gone again!"

"What?" Computer yelped. "What the heck are we standing around for then? Let's go! We need to find out where it's gone and _how _it even managed to get there in the first place!"

End Of Chapter

A/N: I thought the whole idea of Courage having friends without ever really having any friends was an interesting concept to bring up. Well, crap. I might as well rename the story Neon Genesis Couragelion at this point. It's pretty much the same thing, just without the giant robots, the religious symbolism, and everyone turning into tang in the end. LOL (Yes, I was rewatching Neon Genesis Evangelion while playing Pokemon, what of it? And yes, I still don't understand it any better than I did the first time I watched it. LOL) Oh, and speaking of Pokemon, if you are another fellow Pokemans player, my friend code is: 1075-0892-4791


	106. Arisen

A/N: This chapter took so long because I just finished rewriting a whopping five chapters and they all took about the same amount of time a normal chapter would have taken each. 29 through 33 are finally done and fully rewritten. Chapter 31: Computer's Fear, I'm particularly proud of. I already considered it one of the better parts of this story and it is sooo much better now. I'm hoping to start updating more regularly again, but we'll have to see what happens. I'm on a roll with the rewrites right now.

Chapter 106: Arisen

"Wait up! Where are we even supposed to start looking for your body?" Courage huffed. He was lagging quite a bit behind his two friends and they were both running at full speed to get back to where they had last seen the missing machine. He couldn't hope to keep up with them when even walking at a brisk pace was leaving him winded.

"It couldn't have gotten too far from where we left it." Computer replied, glancing over his shoulder and finally noticing that his friend wasn't keeping up. He slowed to a stop and Nina, seeing what he was doing, did the same.

"What's the hold up?" She asked.

"Pick him up." He spoke, pointing over at the exhausted dog. "He can't keep running around like this or else his illness is going to start acting up again."

"I-I..." He huffed out, placing a paw onto the wall to keep himself from falling over. "I'll be alright."

"No, you won't." Computer all but chided him. "You're obviously done for the night. Let me and Nina handle this, okay? We'll get you back to her room and then you can-"

"I-I want to help!" He gasped out. He took a step forward to try and show them that he could go on, but only managed to stumble in his exhaustion. He so badly didn't want to admit that his illness was doing him in. Everything had been getting so much better lately and this would ruin it. For a while it had even felt like he hadn't been sick at all, but now...

"You can stay with us, Courage." Nina interjected, deflecting a glare from Computer. "I'll just carry you while we look around."

The displeased machine opened his mouth to argue but then seemed to think better of it and shrugged. "Fine. I suppose he _is _technically resting that way."

Courage allowed himself to be picked up and sighed with relief as he felt his muscles began to relax. Being able to get off his feet for a little while _did _feel wonderful. If only he weren't so fatigued, then he could be apart of this mystery like he were _meant _to be. Strange events like this were practically normal life for him, after all. To be excluded from it felt to him what it must have felt like for a biker to lose their legs.

"He is right though." Nina went on. "Where do we even start looking for your body?"

"It's been almost a half hour since we last saw it sitting near Nina's room." Courage added. "If it really is moving around on it's own, it could be anywhere by now."

"What I'm more concerned about is _how _it's moving on it's own." Computer replied, placing a paw to his chin. "How can it do anything without me in it? If it is my evil twin or something, how can it move my body around without power? I mean, I had a hard time just jumping back into this dog body before."

"Well, you did just _technically _come back from the dead, didn't you?" Nina asked. "Maybe something hitched a ride back with you. A demon, a wayward soul, or just about anyone who might have been looking for a ticket back to the land of the living."

"Oh, great." Computer groaned. "So my body's been possessed by an otherworldly being? That's just lovely! Dog, you'd better go find that flowing garment. We are in for a _long _night."

"You know," Nina laughed. "That flowing garment trick is considered one of the most inefficient forms of exorcising demons ever created."

"I know." Computer chuckled. "That's exactly why I chose it for him to use when his Muriel got possessed. Oh what I would have given to see that! It must have been hilarious!"

"Thanks a lot..." Courage grumbled, giving Computer a glare from up in Nina's arms. The machine responded with a grin, which once again reaffirmed in Courage's mind that Computer smiling was among one of the most frightening things he had ever seen.

"Demon or not," Nina went on. "Who knows what it could be planning. If I were a ghost, I wouldn't want to stay stuck inside a machine. Maybe if it isn't a demon, it might just somebody trying to find a way out."

"Ghosts have always been known to mix with technology in strange ways." Computer agreed. "I'm surprised nothing has ever happened to me, given how many wayward souls show up to torment the farm. Better my body getting possessed than me, I suppose."

"And what if it is a demon?" Courage asked.

"Then we'll deal with it like every other demon who's dared to mess with us!"

Courage shifted around in Nina's arms. "I don't know. Something about this gives me a bad feeling. What if it's none of those things? Then what?"

Computer blinked. "What else could it be? My body getting up without me is weird even by our standards. There's no other explanation."

"You're obviously new to this." Courage laughed. "Don't underestimate how strange things get around here."

Computer let out a huff and crossed his arms. "I know more about all this supernatural nonsense than you do!"

"Well I have more 'on the job' experience!" Courage argued with a laugh.

Nina interrupted them both with about as much enthusiasm as she always had when it came to the supernatural. "Then let's combine all our experience together and solve this mystery!"

"Oh, really?" Computer chuckled. "You seemed scared out of your wits before. Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Of course!" She reaffirmed. "I just got caught off guard before, that's all! I'm going to start my dream job someday and no ghost is ever going to spook me out of it!"

"We'll have to see about that." Computer replied, still trying to egg her on. "I'd say you're about as big of a scaredy cat as Courage is!"

"Big talk coming from someone who started screaming like a little girl when a spider landed on their head!"

"That thing was almost as big as I was!" He argued. "And there was no girly screaming involved either!"

"Hmm, actually, that _was_ a pretty girly scream." Courage added in, mischief sparkling in his eyes.

Computer waved a paw at him. "Pff! I'm not going to take that from a fool who practically made a career out of screaming!"

"Face it," Nina taunted. "You're just as much of a coward as we are."

"Am not!" He shot back. "I have realistic fears, unlike two certain spineless idiots I know!"

"Oooo! I'm a scary 'realistic' spider!" Courage joked, waving his arms out in front of him. Nina instantly burst into laughter.

Computer slapped a paw to his forehead and muttered out quietly, "I really am dealing with real life internet trolls, aren't I? Bah! I'm surrounded by idiots!"

"I bet he's afraid of magnets too!" Nina laughed.

"The mortal enemy of all machinery!" Courage said in a faked serious voice before breaking down into a giggling fit. "Hey, Compute? Do magnets stick to you even in that dog body?"

The glowing dog was becoming more and more furious by the second...

"Oh god! I can just see him covered in magnets!" Nina laughed. "I bet we could get a really, really big one and have him go flying all across the house! Pfff, hahaha!"

"Oh for the love of..." He grumbled. "I'm going now! You two chuckleheads can sit here and keep doing whatever it is your underdeveloped minds enjoy so much, but I'm not going to be apart of it! Adios!" He gave them a single wave and then turned to leave.

Nina raced forward to keep up with him as he walked, still gigging the whole way. "You have no sense of humor!" She proclaimed.

"Oh, I have a sense of humor." He replied. "It's just on a completely different wave length from what you imbeciles are capable of comprehending."

"You see!" She exclaimed, grinning like a child.

"Your humor is just as bad as your lying skills." Courage laughed.

"Says the duo of cackling fools. I don't even know why I bother arguing. I guess the internet is right about not feeding the-"

"Oh crap!" Nina yelped, doing a small jump and very nearly dropping Courage in the process. Her tail puffed out once more, making her look more like a startled cat than a ferret.

"You have _got _to be kidding me!" Computer cried out.

Sitting exactly where it had supposedly been left the last time they saw it, was Computer's real body.

Nina stared, her mouth hanging open. She tried to stammer out a few words but nothing came.

"Oh, so now who's the crazy one?" Computer asked, walking forward.

"I-it wasn't here before!" She cried out.

"Didn't I say the exact same thing?" He asked. "You were clearly just 'seeing things'. Obviously it never moved from this spot! You're simply going insane!"

"Alright! I get it! I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, now can you stop chewing me out?"

"You don't think that we could all be losing it?" Courage asked.

"I doubt that." Computer replied. "I _do _wonder if we're being toyed with."

Nether the ferret girl nor the dog in her arms wanted to get closer to the machine, but Computer had no qualms with such things. He walked up to his body and immediately began looking it over.

"Nothing." He murmured. "It's not powered on or anything."

Nina swallowed. "Something freaky is going here. We can't just leave your body-"

_**BRRRRRRINNNG BRINNNNG BRINNNNG**_

All three friends jumped at the sound of an alarm going off.

"W-what's that?" Nina asked, her furry face having gone quite pale with fright.

"I'm certainly not waiting around to find out!" Computer spoke, racing forward to go find the sound.

"Don't run ahead!" Courage called out to him from Nina's arms. "We need to stick together!"

"Then don't just stand around!" He yelled back.

Nina got the hint and went after him. "M-maybe we should get my dad. H-he'd know what to about this."

"Losing your nerve already?" Computer asked, smiling slyly up at her.

"N-no! I-I just..." She took a deep breath and steeled herself. "I won't be a coward! I am _not_ a coward!"

Computer entered the room where the ringing was coming from first. Nina followed him in cautiously, her head darting around to check every shadow in the room. He pulled something out from behind the boxes, observed it for a moment, and then pushed a button which made the ringing stop.

"What was it?" Courage asked.

"An alarm clock." He answered, checking it over very carefully.

"Just an alarm clock?" Nina asked, taking a step closer to him.

The glowing dog glanced around rather suspiciously. "Someone set this thing to go off. Timed it perfectly too." He turned to Nina. "It was mean to be a distraction, I'm sure of it."

"I, er, think we need to get back to your body then."

"Indeed!" He agreed.

They both rushed back out of the room and down the hall. They were, of course, greeted by the one thing that they had hoped they wouldn't see. Computer's body was now gone...

"What on earth is going on here?" The machine loudly asked. He placed a paw on his head, looking completely confused.

"Maybe we really _are _losing it." Nina mused.

Courage placed a paw to his chin. "Why would your body leave _twice_, then come back, have an alarm go off, and then leave again? What's the point?"

Nina sighed. "I don't know. None of this is making any sense." Her sigh quickly turned into a yawn. "It's making my brain hurt."

Rubbing her eyes, she turned her head towards the room beside them.

"BLAH!" She cried out, jumping once more. Her tail had never returned to normal so there wasn't much left to poof out this time...

Both Courage and Computer turned their sights over to the door.

"What in the world?" Computer asked.

His body was now sitting in the middle of that room, completely inconspicuous. It had been so dark in there, with just Computer's glow lighting up the hallway, that none of them had noticed it until now. It was turned so that only its back was facing them, keeping the monitor screen from reflecting the glow.

"I'm telling you, man!" Nina stammered. "It's like those statues that only move when nobody is looking at them!"

"Alright, I'm done messing around!" Computer growled. "I'm getting to the bottom of this and that's that!"

He began stepping into the room but then Nina reached forward and grabbed him by the ears, pulling him right back out again.

"H-hey!" He yelped.

"Don't just rush in there!" She cried out. "What if it, er, jumps up and tries to eat you or something?"

"I'm pretty sure I've never had a mouth." He grumbled, rubbing an ear.

"I bet it could find a way! Especially if it's been possessed!"

"What's the worse that could happen?" He asked. "It'll try and shove my face up the disc drive?"

"I don't know, but this reeks of a trap!"

"She's right." Courage agreed. "This doesn't seem right."

"What a bunch of cowards you are!" He exclaimed. "It's just my body! It's practically harmless, even when it _can _move!"

He stomped off into the room, Nina stammering out at him the whole way. He walked up to his body and began inspecting it. It did not so much as twitch the entire time.

"It's completely shut off!" He yelled, his frustration growing. "How on earth did it get in here then? There's no way that it could be moving on it's own!"

"It might just be pretending." Courage said to him from Nina's arms. She was still hanging around in the doorway, too frightened to go in.

"It can't 'think' and be shut off at the same time." Computer replied. "I certainly never could."

"If it's a demon, I don't think it would matter very much." Nina stuttered out. "It probably moves that thing around like a puppet on its strings."

"Well," He sighed. "It's not moving _now_, is it? And we've never actually seen it move either. Maybe we really areall going crazy. Our best bet would be to just tie it down at this point and go to bed."

Nina finally dared to enter the room, her eyes darting around warily. "M-maybe you should hook up to it and go back inside."

"And come face to face with whoever might be in there? No thanks!" Computer exclaimed. "I like not being possessed, if you don't mind."

"Come on! That's the only way we're ever going to find out if it really is moving on it's own or not!"

"I'm not going to be a guinea pig just because you're scared out of your wits!"

"I'm not scared! I-I'm just worried, okay?"

"You're doing an awful lot of shaking for someone who's just 'worried." He quipped back at her.

"Uh, guys..." Courage whimpered out.

"What?" They both asked at the exact same time.

"L-listen!"

In the sudden silence, they caught a sound that was the unmistakable hum of Computer's fan.

All eyes fell back upon the unmoving machine. Seemingly in response to the new found attention, the wires splayed out across the floor began to spark with energy as they always did whenever Computer was moving on his own.

"Oooohh crap." Nina squeaked.

The machine began to rise slowly and shakily up onto it's legs. The wires were now sparking everywhere and the hum of power radiating from it was almost overwhelming.

"So..." Computer murmured, his eyes narrowing.

The machine's monitor suddenly snapped around, seemingly drawn by Computer's voice. They were all left staring into it's bluish-green screen which had been dark not even seven seconds ago. It then lunged forward at an impossible speed. It was only Nina's quick movement, who grabbed Computer by the scruff of his neck, that got him out of there right as the mechanical monstrosity would have overtaken him.

She slammed the door shut just before the thing could catch up with them and it hit the door with a loud thud. Both she and Computer backed away, completely stunned. It's claws could be heard scratching away at the wood like a berserk cat.

Both Nina and Courage turned there heads toward Computer. He was just as stumped as they were.

"What?" He asked, placing a paw onto his head.

End Of Chapter

A/N: Oh, and if you haven't heard of a game called The Stanley Parable, go play it NOW! It's pretty much what would happen if you stuck Computer in a GLaDOS style roll. It's freaking amazing and very, very funny. The fact that the Narrator has almost unseated Computer as my most favorite snarky British guy should really say something about it. Nobody ever challenges Computer's superiority! NOBODY!


	107. You Wouldn't Download A Dog

A/N: So, I've been putting this story out in a few places to try and increase my readership. I've been looking for more feedback in general, but it looks like I've failed on this front. It doesn't look like a gained any new readers, or if I have, they've been keeping quite LOL. I guess I can't hope to obtain the same readership as someone who'd be writing for a giant fandom. I am happy with what I've got though. The Courage fandom is pretty much dead and the fact that I've somehow gotten this many readers so far is really freaking amazing.

Chapter 107: You Wouldn't Download A Dog

_**BLAM!**_

_**BLAM!**_

_**BLAM!**_

"It's going to break right through the door!" Nina yelped. "What are we gonna do?"

"I-I don't know!" Computer replied with a shake of his head. "I don't even know what the heck is going on here!"

"Find some stuff to block the door with!" Courage babbled out in his dog speech, instantly taking control of the situation. "We've gotta try and keep it locked up in there!"

_**CRACK!**_

"Too late!" Computer spoke as a large crack appeared in the door.

It took only one more attempt from the rampaging machine to ram one of it's claws right through the broken wood. They were suddenly bathed in a light green glow, mixing with Computer's darker blue as the machine lowered it's screen to the hole. Another claw came crashing through the destroyed door, _almost_ giving it enough room to escape.

"RUUUUN!" Nina screamed, bolting away as fast as her legs would take her, Courage also getting taken along for the ride.

"Don't go!" Computer yelled to her. "We've got to find a way to-"

_**CRASH!**_

With one last blow to the door, splinters were sent flying everywhere. The machine crawled out over what little remained of the wood and then came face to, er, screen with Computer.

"Uh..." He said to it, too stunned to form any meaningful dialogue with the strange being. "I, er, think I'll get on with the running thing too. Bye!"

And with that, he took off after Nina. He only spared one look back to see his body _keeping pace _right behind him. It moved with both the speed and the coordination that he himself had never had, and could never even _hope _to have. If he had ever tried to move that fast in his body, he would have easily tripped over his own six legs first.

"I'm getting too old for thi-" He groaned, only to be cut off halfway when his body suddenly put on a burst of speed, lunged forward, and unceremoniously tackled him to the ground.

"Oh, gee, thanks for that." He grumbled. "Why don't you just break all the bones in my body while you're a-" He was once again cut off as it placed a claw onto his head and forced his muzzle down into the carpet.

"RMPH! What are you trying to do?" He asked, forcing his head back up. His alarm was growing over this unreal situation. His body had him well and thoroughly pinned down, strategically placing it's legs in places that would insure that he could not wriggle his way out.

It responded by using even more force to push his head down.

"MMPH!" He replied with a roll of his eyes.

It then took it's one free claw and planted into his back. He knew immediately what is was trying to do but had no way of combating it. How would it even exist in this dog body at the same time as him? Would they have to fight each other for control, or-

No, that wasn't it at all. He could feel himself connecting back up to his system. It wasn't trying to-

"YAAAAHHH!"

He heard Nina's voice cry out from somewhere behind him. The machine's grip on him loosened and this allowed him to crane his neck far enough to the side that he could get some idea of what was going on.

Nina had grabbed the rampaging machine's monitor and ripped it clean off. Surprised by this, it removed both of it's claws holding onto Computer's head and back and felt for it's missing 'head'. Something akin to a snarl issued forth from within it and it swung one of it's arms through the air, slashing a claws across Nina's torso and ripping right through her pajamas.

"Ah!" She cried out, dropping the monitor.

It deftly snatched it out of the air and put it back into place. The screen flashed to life once again, briefly displaying an angry red color before returning to it's usual blue-green glow. It 'glared' at Nina for several seconds longer before rearing up and jumping clean over her. It passed Courage, who had been standing right behind her, without giving him so much as a glance, and then vanished into another room.

"Go after it!" Computer yelled, jumping back up onto his feet.

Courage was the first to race into the room, as he was closer, but a loud glass shattering sound echoed through the hall, meaning that the rogue machine must have escaped through a window. Computer ran over to go join his friend but the pup ended up meeting him halfway.

"It jumped through the window the moment I got there." He sighed. "It looked like it was waiting to see who would come in first. I don't think it would have jumped if it had been you."

"Trying to get another attack in, I bet." He muttered out in annoyance.

They both returned to the room to investigate the scene. The window fabric was blowing in the breeze and the room was already colder as a result. They both had to be careful not to step in the glass but they slowly made their way over to what remained of the window.

Computer glanced outside, trying to get a glimpse of his errant body. It had either managed to hide very quickly down in the parking lot or it had climbed down the wall and broken back into the building through another window.

"Nothing, huh?" Courage asked.

"We may as well be grasping at straws at this point." He sighed. "Even if we were to capture it or something, what would we do with it then? I have no idea how to fix this, or even how it's is happening in the first place!" He pressed a paw up against his forehead. "I never thought it was possible to feel this tired. The sun is going to be up at any moment and I really, _really _don't want to deal with this right now."

Nina came hobbling into the room, a paw pressed up against her stomach. "Thanks for ditching me back there, guys."

"You got hurt, didn't you?" Computer asked.

"It's just a scratch." She replied, wincing in pain.

"That is _not_ just a scratch." He shot back, addressing her injury with a surprising amount of concern.

"Well, it's not like it disemboweled me or anything. Just slap a few band-aids on it and I'll be fine."

"Courage, help her, won't you? I'm going to go head outside and see if any other windows were broken. That will at least rule out if it climbed down or not."

"Unless it's clever and didn't break anymore windows." Nina corrected him. "We never bother locking them so it could have easily opened up another one and got back inside without leaving any evidence."

"Great!" Computer groaned. "So it's another wild goose chase?"

"Hey!" Courage exclaimed, his ears perking up. "You said before that you can sense other electronics now, right? Why don't you try it out? I bet we could find it pretty easy that way!"

He winced and had to force himself to keep his expression neutral. He couldn't do that! He'd end up a pile of melted dog! As much as he hated it, he knew he needed to find a way to lie about his ability without being obvious about it like Courage and Nina often claimed.

"I-" He took a moment to formulate what he wanted to say. "I can't. You see, it appears that I can only sense other electronics when I'm hooked up to my body, which is, of course, currently off doing it's own thing right now."

Courage took a step forward so that they were almost nose to nose. His angry glare filled Computer's vision. "You're _lying_." He snapped.

He forced back his growing panic and replaced it with about as much fake outrage as he could muster. "Lying? Why would I ever lie about something like this? Seriously, dog! Give me one good reason why I would lie about my new found ability when it could be very helpful in finding that evil twin of mine?" He crossed his arms. "I am absolutely outraged that you'd accuse me of something so stupid!"

Courage continued to glare at him.

He reached forward and pushed the dog away. "Personal space, idiot! Learn it!"

He couldn't do it. He couldn't even work up the gall to try. He didn't want to risk the possibility of overloading and melting, even when it seemed like a ridiculous thing to happen to a dog. Organic creatures _did_ sometimes spontaneously combusted, didn't they? No, he couldn't risk it, not even for something as simple as trying to sense where his rogue body had gone.

"It is strange though," He went on, desperate to change the subject and get Courage's intense glare off of him. "It wasn't actually trying to download into me back there, it was trying to upload me back into it. I don't know why though. Was it trying to get me out of the way so that it could get into this dog? But why? Why go through all that trouble when it could have just gone after you two instead?"

"Got me." Nina yawned.

"It was so strange though." He muttered, placing a finger to his chin. "When I was connected to my system for that brief moment, something just felt, _familiar_. I don't really understand it. I almost want to say that I remembered some long forgotten memory, but then it went away again before I could commit it to memory."

"Or because I pushed it off of you before it could execute it's fiendish plan!"

"Fiendish plan?"

"_Obviously _it's up to no good!" She shouted. "What would have happened if it had actually finished 'uploading' you? I bet it was trying to suck all your memories out so that it could impersonate you! Then have us go after your body while you're inside of it and convince us that you're really him!" She had to take a moment to catch her breath after blurting that all out.

"But why would it do that?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow.

"WHY IS IT DOING ANYTHING?" She yelped, picking the glowing dog up and shaking him in her fervor. "Wait, you might already _be _him! Oh my god! You're the imposter aren't you?"

"I am _not _an imposter!" He yelled, wrestling his way out of her paws. "Calm down! You're getting completely paranoid!"

"That's what _he _would say to make us think that he's the real Computer!"

Computer slapped his forehead at her words. "I am _not_ dealing with this right now. Believe what you want to believe, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you that I'm really the real me!"

"Quick, Courage! Ask him a question that only the really real Computer would know! Wait!" She let out a gasp. "If he's got his memories then he'd already know _everything _that Computer knows! H-he's the perfect impostor!"

"I'm only the perfect imposter because I AM ME!" He yelled.

Courage, who had remained silent this whole time, waved a paw and said, "He can't be an imposter. An imposter wouldn't be nearly as bad of a liar as he is."

Computer let out a huff. "I am not a bad liar!"

Courage stomped forward and poked him angrily in the chest. "Unless you stop hiding things don't you dare expect to keep being friends with me!"

His eyes narrowed at the irate pup. "Oooh, I see what's going on here. You're still mad at me for lying to you about that dream! Now you assume everything that comes out of my mouth is false, don't you? You keep saying I'm a bad liar to try and trip me up! Well, look who's doing the _real _scheming here!"

Courage grit his teeth in frustration. "Friendship is supposed to be about give and take, you know! I've gone out of my way to do as much as possible for you and what do you do in return? Lie about everything and withholding important information from me! You've hardly been a decent friend at al-"

On that note, Nina reached down and clamped his muzzle shut. She shook her head at him as if to say, 'Don't tell him that! I know how crazy he gets about being a _proper _friend!'.

Courage wrestled her arm away and continued to glare accusingly at the glowing dog. "How am I supposed to trust you like this?" He asked. "I won't be your friend if I have to keep feeling like you're lying to me all the time!"

"But, Courage..." He spoke, suddenly feeling very small.

Panic was once again welling up inside of him. He had to fix this and fix it fast. He feared ruining his friendship with Courage far more than the possibility of burning up and melting. He'd risk it if that meant he could get back onto the pup's good side. The thought if it still terrified him, yes, and if he did start melting, well, he'd have to deal with that once he got there.

"Seriously, Compute. You'd better get your priorities straight because I'm dead serious about this. If we can't trust each other then there's no point in us being friends."

"Alright, alright!" He choked out. He couldn't stop his voice from trembling. Any attempt to steel his nerves only brought back that vivid image of his screen cracking and the horrific burning sensation as his insides turned into molten mush.

"You want to know the truth? F-Fine! I'll say whatever needs to be said." He let out a shaky sigh. What he really wanted to do was curl up right then and there and pretend that he didn't exist. Knowing what was about to happen to him was almost too much to bear. "I tried to use my ability to save you and Nina in that dream. I-I wanted to try and turn into something useful, but-"

"What dream?" Nina interrupted him. "I've heard you both talk about it but you never really explained the whole thing to me."

"We both experienced the same 'realistic' nightmare." Computer told her, thankful for the brief distraction. "It was a bit...unnerving, to say the least. We both think that the rings and the Dreamworld might have had something to do with it."

"Oh..." She muttered. "That would have been nice to know before."

"No kidding!" Courage grumbled. "He didn't let me know until _after _we had gone looking for 'Him'!"

The glowing dog's ears drooped and he fidgeted with his paws rather nervously. "Sorry..."

"Well, finish what you were telling us." Nina suggested. She glanced over at Courage and then back to Computer rather sympathetically. She clearly didn't approve of the dog's hostility towards his friend, especially when she had come to know first hand just how much Computer valued trying to be a 'good friend' to Courage.

He kept his eyes trained on the ground, unwilling to look back up into Courage's angry face. "I tried to work my ability into something useful, but, I just ended up losing control instead. I started to overheat when I _couldn't_ stop it and I...I started to melt!" He clutch his head and began to tremble. Intense fear suddenly joined in with his ever growing sense of panic, not only because he didn't want to turn into a ball of flaming dog, but also because he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to make amends with Courage. It almost felt like speaking about this awful occurrence would make it happen in real life. Not only was he about to lose his dearest friend, but he was still going to turn into a fireball anyway!

"I-It was as real as it possibly could be." He spoke, his voice just barely above a whisper. "I'd hardly even call it a dream. I-I could feel everything melting! My screen cracked open like an egg! I very nearly started on fire! Everything hurt, and I-I couldn't escape it. I was completely stuck in my own self-destructing body!" He glanced back up at his two friends. "It was more horrible than either of you could possibly imagine."

"Oh, man." Nina murmured. She was the only one who seemed to grasp just how agonized he was over all of this.

He turned to Courage, who's expression had lightened but still held a very angry demeanor. "But I-I will do it!" He went on, practically pleading with the pup as he spoke. "I'll use my ability to find out where my body went, but only because...because that's what you want me to do!" He gave the dog a nervous chuckle and a very unconvincing smile. "I-I'm sure it'll be alright! That was just a dream after all!"

He was, of course, absolutely convinced that he were about to become a glowing, blue pile of ash. He was still going to do though, because he wouldn't risk his friendship with Courage any further. Perhaps if he _did_ start on fire, well, maybe then the dog would have a reason to stop glaring at him like that...

Nina, thoroughly fuming at the way Courage was treating his obviously terrified friend, opened her mouth to tell him off but was stopped when the dog sighed and took a step forward.

He placed a paw onto the glowing dog's shoulder, his anger melting away, and said to him, "It's alright. I'm not forcing you to do anything. I just...wanted the truth, that's all. I-I didn't know it would be this upsetting for you though. S-sorry."

Computer did not reply to the dog's apology. He merely removed Courage's paw from his shoulder and walked off, one paw gripping his arm and his ears all but plastered to his back. He left the room without another word and it plunged into darkness.

"Grreeeat." Nina groaned. "You just had to pull the, 'I'm not going to be your friend anymore' card, didn't you? Now he's going to spend the next three days straight constantly moping!" She threw her arms up into the air in an exaggerated fashion. "We're going to wake up tomorrow and he's going to have himself cursed again, I'm sure! Good job, Courage!"

He glanced down at the ground, completely dismayed, and let out a wistful sigh.

End Of Chapter

A/N: OHMYGODYES, Hammock just released their new album just as I was finishing this chapter up! For those of you who don't know, Hammock is pretty much my biggest inspiration when it comes to this story. I pretty much have nothing but their music on while I write. If this story had a soundtrack, it would mostly be comprised of their music. I came up with A LOT of scenes while binging on their music.


	108. A Much Needed Talk

A/N: Because I wasn't fangirling enough about Hammock yet, if you want a song to set the mood for this chapter, look up 'Then The Quiet Explosion' from their new album. I can't say it perfectly fits the context of this chapter but I pretty much had it on repeat the whole time I was writing it so that must count for something LOL.

Chapter 108: A Much Needed Talk

"I, uh, I'm going to look around for the imposter some more." Courage said to Nina as they left the room. Judging by the way he looked and the way he was talking, he seemed to feel pretty bad about what he had done, or at least that was how Nina saw it.

"Why don't we go looking for the real Computer first?" She asked, placing her paws on her hips.

The machine was, of course, nowhere to be found. Everything was so dark that you could have seen his glow easily if he were anywhere nearby. The fact that he had abandoned them _was _a little more than worrying, but given what had happened...

Courage's ears drooped. "Y-you can do that. I-I don't think he even wants to talk to me right now."

Nina's tail bristled in frustration. "Stop acting all mopy! This is your fault so owe up to it!"

He flinched at her harsh words.

"You know very well that your friendship with him is the _one _thing that he cares about the most! You don't just go and take advantage of it like that to get what you want out of him!"

"I-I wasn't-" He stammered out.

"He's practically been driving himself _insane _trying to figure out how to be a better friend to you and you turn around tell him that he hasn't been good enough? And then you _threaten _to not be his friend anymore? I don't know about you, but I saw his world practically shattering right in front of his eyes! Do you have any idea how cruel that was? And then you went and strung him along for as long as you possibly could, _just _to get the truth out of him! What if he had tried to use his ability before you actually bothered to tell him he didn't have to? What if he had actually burst into flame or something? Bet you'd be feeling pretty bad right now!"

"I-I'm sorry." He whimpered out as tears formed in his eyes. "I was just really mad at him for not telling me about that dream. I-it was one of the most terrifying things I had ever gone through and I can't believe he just...didn't tell me he'd seen the same thing too. I had no idea he had gone through something as awful as melting from the inside out, and I wouldn't have pressed him about it if I had know, but..." He trailed off.

"Then what are you apologizing to me for?" She asked. "Go make up with him."

"I can't!" He sobbed out. "H-he'd never..."

"You can't, or do you just not want to face up to what you did?" She harshly asked.

"I can't!" He sobbed. "I just can't! I-"

"Courage." She spoke, kneeling down beside him. She allowed her voice to become somewhat less angry as she talked, "You need to pull yourself together. Losing your head like this isn't going to fix what happened. I'm going to go look for him now. Once you feel like you can face him, come join us, okay?"

Courage sniff and rubbed his eyes, only to have more tears fall freely. "He almost _died_. We thought he really had! I-I was so happy when it turned out that he had somehow pulled through. Then what do I go and do? I decide to be petty and get 'revenge on him. And why? Just because he locked me up in a room? He was only doing that because he thought it was the only way to keep us from getting murdered! Lied to me a couple of times? Only because he didn't want to give me a reason to worry!" Courage buried his face into his paws. "Why did I do this? H-he probably thinks that I-" His voice broke away into sobs...

"Sorry, Cour. I know frustrations are running pretty high right now. You care about him a lot, and he knows that, I'm sure, and he cares about you just as much in return. I can't say I'm willing to forgive you just yet, but I bet he would."

The tiny pup shook his head. "I can't. I'm sorry. Find him for me, okay? I-I'll stay here and keep a lookout for his body." He gave her a sad, tear-filled smile. "I guess I really am the biggest coward out of all three of us."

Nina slowly reached over and patted him on the his head. "I'm sorry, but I had to say what I felt needed to be said."

She admittedly felt pretty bad for reducing him to tears like this, but she really _had_ said what needed to be said. He could feel as bad as he liked, but that didn't change the fact that he had been a complete jerk to his closest friend.

Sighing, she stood back up and crossed her arms. "Be careful. Don't let that thing sneak up on you, alright? I'll be back as soon as I can."

Courage nodded and wiped away a few more of his tears. "Sorry." He repeated.

Turning around, Nina placed a paw up against the ripped part of her pajamas. That imposter hadn't held back at all, had it? Well, it hurt a bit, but it wasn't too terrible. Had she reacted a little faster that thing wouldn't have had a chance to rake it's claws down her side like that anyway.

"I hope I'll run into the real Computer long before I run back into that 'thing' again. The way it moves is just...creepy. Not even when it's Computer doing the moving does it look that strange."

She peaked her head into one of the rooms rather warily. Surely Computer hadn't gone too far away? Oh, no! Had the imposter gotten him?

"C-Compute?" She called out quietly, turning around to check the other door. "Where did you go?"

_'Oh, man. What do I do if the imposter really did get him?' _She wondered to herself. _'I can't stop that creepy spider thing all by myself!'_

As she walked over to check another door, she then noticed a faint glow coming from a room several doors down from her. She took a deep breath and walked forward, ready for whatever might come next. Hopefully it wasn't the 'evil' Computer waiting to ambush her.

"Here goes nothing." She murmured. "If it is the imposter, maybe I can sneak up on it. I might be able to shut it down or something."

She slowly peered into the room, ready to jump back at any moment if she had to. Half expecting to come face to face with a screen, she instead found what was supposedly the real Computer standing in front of a window across the room from her.

"H-hey!" She laughed, glad to see him. "You're the real you, right? The imposter didn't switch out with you, did he?"

Computer didn't respond. In fact, he was standing stark still and acting like he hadn't heard her at all.

"Compute?" She asked, a wave of fear washing over her.

Against her better judgment, she walked across the room and placed a paw onto his shoulder. He did not so much flinch.

"A-are you alright?" She asked, glancing down at him

He was staring rather intently out of the window, but his eyes didn't seem to be focusing on anything at all. His paws were digging into the windowsill, very nearly leaving marks with his nails. The sight of it was a bit unnerving, to say the least. Nina waved a paw in front of his face, trying to get his attention, but it didn't work.

"Hello?" She asked. "Are you in there?"

He was like a statue. Even waving her paw in front of his face hadn't caused him to blink.

"Hey!" She yelled, growing even more alarmed. She grabbed him by the shoulders and twisted him around, but he still did not acknowledge her. "Snap out of it!" She yelped, shaking him lightly.

It took a moment, but then, as though nothing had happened at all, he blinked and suddenly began moving again. He gazed up at her, looking rather confused, and asked, "Oh, uh, when did you get here?"

"I've been here for ages now!" She yelled. "And just what the heck was that?"

"Oh, I thought you were Courage for a moment, funny enough." He replied rather frankly.

"How could you mistake me for him! Do I look anything like Courage?" She yelled, shaking him once more, and he did not seem very amused about it.

"It was an honest mistake!" He replied, glaring up at her.

"I've been here this whole time trying to snap you out of la-la land! You were so zoned out you may as well have fallen into Narnia for all I care!"

"Oh, uh, sorry, I guess." He muttered, casting his eyes downward. "It happens sometimes."

"Sometimes?" She asked. This distinctly reminded her of when he'd woken both her and Courage up over a nightmare that he had been playing out in real time.

"Well, yeah." He spoke, walking back up to the window. "Sometimes, when I think about certain things, I just sort of...get caught up in them again. It's like-" He paused for a moment as he tried to come up with a way to describe it. "It's like I'm really there, living that moment out all over again. Sometimes it's easy enough to snap out of it, but other times, well, it gets hard to figure out what's reality and what's just going on in my train wreck of a head."

Nina bit her lip before dropping down onto her knees. "Compute, you know that isn't normal, right?" She asked, trying to be as gentle about it as possible.

He sighed and placed both of his paws back onto the windowsill. "It's not like there's anything that can be done about it anyway." He muttered, letting his muzzle rest on his paws. "It didn't really start becoming a problem until after everything that happened in the forest. I mean, it did get better for awhile, but then it just ended up getting worse again. Ever since I let Courage talk me into going through that awful dreamworld nonsense, thing have been spiraling completely out of control. The nightmares are getting more real, the images more vivid, the memories more difficult to not think about, and even worse, now Courage is getting dragged into it to! If I had know how horrible the dreamworld would have been, and how much trouble it would cause afterwords, I would have snapped those rings in half without so much as a second thought."

"Listen, I don't think-"

"Don't you dare tell me that it couldn't have been 'that bad'!" He snapped, whirling around to face her. "The visual interpenetration of my mind is literally a garbage dump for crying out loud! Do you have an idea what it was like seeing that? I could have lived with it being something horrible like a mountain of kittens and rainbows, but that? It couldn't have been any worse!" He shook his head and gave her a shrug. "You know, I thought you knew about this already?"

"Courage never told me. He said it wasn't his place to talk about it."

He blinked up at her, both confused and surprised. "I know I promised to tell you everything about my past as soon there was a chance, and I guess I'll have to add our little adventure through Nightmareland to the list, but I can't believe he didn't just blurt it all out to you. He actually showed some tact for a change?"

"Well, yeah. He wouldn't even tell me about your past either. He always says that it's something too personal for him to talk about without your permission."

"That dog really does surprise me sometimes." He admitted. "I figured he wouldn't keep his mouth shut."

"I guess he knows what he's doing...sometimes." She grumbled.

Computer returned his gaze to the window. "I never used to have these issues though, back when I wasn't always stuck in this dog body. If I started to think too much about the things that had happened to me I'd eventually just crash and wake up later no worse for wear. Actually, I had to stop thinking about those sorts of things all together. I started to worry that I'd eventually throw myself into an endless feedback loop, one of which I'd never be able to escape from, and I guess that as an organic creature there aren't any fail-safes to keep something similar from happening to me. It's alright though, I don't mind much." He then gave a hollow laugh. "I just hate that I keep saying I'm going to 'move on' only to have it all drag me back down again. It's pathetic."

Nina couldn't help but laugh as well. Of course, her laugh was of a much less cynical variety. "There are a lot of things I'd call you but pathetic isn't one of them." She then stood back up. "So, what were you thinking about anyway?"

He seemed to freeze up for a moment before giving her a nonchalant shrug and then flat out ignored the question.

"You scared me half to death and you won't even tell me why?"

"I just don't want to talk about, alright?" He replied, his eyes all but pleading with her not to push the issue. "But, let me guess." He went on. His tone immediately becoming scathingly sarcastic. "If I don't tell you, you'll just declare that we aren't friends anymore, right?"

"O-of course not!" She stammered. "It wasn't right for Courage to do that in the first place!"

"If you _must_ know, well, it's a bit of a long story. To put it more simply," He began pacing back and forth, drumming his fingers together as he went. "As you know, I'm the one who forced Courage to go into the forest that night after we escaped the vets. I made him go even when we both knew how dangerous it was in there. He was absolutely livid with me, for good reason too, and I only kept trying to aggravate him even more. He eventually just sort of _snapped_ and started wailing on me. It was..." He slowed to a stop but ultimately didn't finish his thought. "Well, I was asking for it anyway, and he's apologized for it at least a million times by now." He looked up at her and gave her a weak smile. "I guess it just never sat very well with me though."

Nina bit her lip again. So this _hadn't _been the only time Courage had done something awful to Computer? She was finding her opinion of him plummeting by the second. He was a pretty nice dog after all, but this was inexcusable. Perhaps she had simply misjudged him and Computer was badly in need of a reality check about his 'friend'.

"And...why were you thinking about something like that then?" She asked, knowing fully well why already, but she figuring that Computer needed a chance to admit it to himself as well.

The glowing dog glanced downward, refusing to answer the question. She then reached down and picked him up.

"Hmph!" He exclaimed, pointing a finger at her. "Don't you dare pick me up like some everyday common mutt! I don't appreciate being manhandled all the time!" He crossed his arms and stuck his nose up into the air.

"You're ignoring my question." She spoke.

"Because I don't want to answer it!" He stubbornly replied.

"Look, let me phrase it this way. If the only reason you're nice to him is because you fear retaliation, then I think you really need to reconsider why you're friends with him."

Computer winced at that. "You don't need to put it that way." He replied rather weakly. "We both know Courage isn't really like that. It's like I said, I was asking for it. I went out of my way to make him as angry as possible and I got bit for it. As for today, well, he's right, I should have just told him everything from the start. It only ended up causing even more problems."

Nina grit her teeth in annoyance. "That doesn't give him an excuse to treat you like crap!"

He let out a laugh. "I've been treating him like crap for his whole life! If anything, you should be having him question his friendship with me, not the other way around! He was right after all! I thought about it a bit and I can't think of one good thing I've done for him as a friend!" He let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "He's done so much for me and I haven't done _anything _back for him! It's inexcusable!"

"Oh, boy. Here we go again..." Nina whispered to herself. "What about, oh, I don't know, the fact that you've been saving his life for as long as you've known him? I'd say that's a pretty friendly thing to do!"

"That's just normal, everyday life! I haven't done any real 'friendshipy' friend stuff for him!"

"Why is it that you huff and complain about everything else but when it comes to Courage you suddenly turn into a big, glowy doormat?"

He blinked up at her. "A...doormat?"

"Ugh! You're a computer! Why don't you have a giant database on figures of speech?"

He rolled his eyes. "Well you can't expect me to remember every figure of speech ever made!"

"Face it, you're asking Courage to walk all over you! So long as he can threaten his friendship with you he's got as much leverage as he'll ever need! He's not the paragon of kindness that you think he is! So long as he's got something to use against you, he will use it!"

"Oh for goodness sake!" He yelled, slapping his forehead. "He's not some evil schemer looking to drag me around by puppet strings! He just isn't like that!"

"Then what just happened!"

"I'm not happy about it but that doesn't mean he was wrong."

"UGH!" She cried out in frustration. "There's the problem! You never think that he can do you wrong! What he did was manipulative and awful! You can't just let it fly!"

Computer shook his head again. "It's fine. I certainly don't mind. So long as we can still be friends I don't care about anything else. Speaking of which," His ears drooped. "_are_ we still friends? Have you seen him at all? Is he...still mad?"

"Uuuugh, I give up." Nina groaned, completely defeated by Computer's impossible logic. "No, he isn't angry anymore, but I did give him a good chewing out for what he did to you."

Computer jumped out of her paws and dropped back down onto the carpet. "I don't need your protection and I certainly don't need you sticking up for me!" He snapped. "I've been treated like garbage my entire life and I know for a fact that Courage isn't anything like the other people I've known! He isn't a bad person so don't you dare start treating him like one! I won't stand for it!"

Nina shook her head with a sigh. "You really need to get your head on straight, Compute. If you're still being bothered by what he did to you in that forest then you're obviously not okay with it. The only reason you would have been thinking about it is if you thought he was going to do something similar to you back there in that room."

"Of course not!" He dismissed her. "I just got caught up in a few bad memories, that's all!"

"Wow, are you really that deeply in denial or are you just trying to save face for Courage at this point?"

A deep frown fell across his face, and then, in some sort of tranquil fury, he stomped up to her. His tone was soft but practically seething with anger as he spoke. "Let me make this very clear. You and Courage are all I have. If I don't have you two, I'm completely alone again, and that means new owners, empty rooms, being left to sit on for weeks on end, _stewing _in my own boredom and frustration, being forced to watch my own system fall apart right in front of me or getting stuck in a frantic, exhausting, unending race just to keep it going so that _I CAN SPEND EVERY LAST SECOND I HAVE LEFT LOATHING MY MISERABLE EXISTENCE!_"

His voice seemed to echo all through the building and then a heavy silence followed. He had grabbed Nina's pajama leg in his anger and was pulling so hard that his nails were ripping right through the fabric.

"I will _not _go back to that!" He growled out between grit teeth. His entire body was absolutely trembling with anger. "If you _dare_ to try and take away the one good thing that's happened to me in _all _of my miserable life, I swear I'll-"

"Alright, alright!" She quickly said. "Just stop glaring at me like you're about to turn into every evil computer from every movie ever!"

He let go of her pajama leg but continue to glare viciously up at her. It was like he had shifted into a completely different person and was perfectly willing to follow through on his threat if he had to.

"I said it's alright." She repeated. "I know you're angry, but please, stop."

His eyes began to widen. "What on earth am I doing?" He gasped out before burying his face into his paws. "I don't even know if I'm still friends with Courage and here I am burning down even more bridges?" He lightly pounded a fist to his forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! How can I be so stupid?"

"It's alright." Nina spoke, kneeling down beside him once more. "You're still my friend, I promise."

"A-are you sure?" He asked, almost jumping back in shock. "Even after I blew up at you like that?"

"I won't hold it against you." She chuckled.

"Even after I _almost _threatened to rip your face off?"

"I'd like to see you try!" She laughed.

"Even when it looks like I'm slowly turning into a psychopath?"

"Yep!"

"Er, I am being serious about the psychopath part, you know."

"And I don't care!"

"A-are you pulling my leg?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why would I be?"

"But, I don't unders-"

She silenced him with a finger. "I can see why you'd be angry. Nobody would ever want to go back to a horrible life if they could help it. You aren't any less my friend than you were before and I forgive you completely." Smiling, she patted him on the head. "I can't say I've forgiven Courage though. I'm still sticking by what I said in that you shouldn't let him push you around."

"Don't pet me like I'm a dog!" Computer complained, but he _was_ smiling though. "And Courage doesn't push me around! At least, not anymore than I push him around myself."

"Well, instead of arguing about it, why don't we go take care of that imposter instead?"

The smile faded from Computer's lips. "That thing could be anywhere by now and I'm honestly too tired to care anymore. Just let it do whatever mysterious plotting it wants to! I could care less!"

"Augh! We can't leave that creepy spider thing running around the house! The 'mysterious plotting' it's doing could be seriously dangerous, or worse, deadly!"

Computer rubbed his eyes "I just came back from the dead. You know, that thing you're not supposed to come back from? I think I've earned the right not to care. You can go and try to exorcise our new demonic friend but I need a break."

"Fine! Take a nap! You're going to wake up and that thing is going to be sucking your soul out!"

"Alright, alright! I'll go!" He huffed. "But don't blame me if I pass out on the way!"

Complaining under his breath the whole way, he made his way out the door. Nina sighed and shook her head, smiling at just how strange her life had become ever since these two dogs had dropped into it. Even though she had only known Computer for a little while, under all that haughtiness and disdain she could easily sense his fear, and there was _a lot _of it. It almost seemed as if keeping up his appearance was the only thing holding him together anymore, or even possibly keeping him sane. Whether this was a recent development or if he had always been like this, she couldn't tell. Whatever must have happened to make him this way though, she couldn't even imagine. She had some idea, but until he gave her the whole story, she was simply stuck in the dark.

"Alright, evil twin! You may as well come out of hiding because I'm going to make you wish that you had never gotten up without my permission! Bring it on, idiot!" She heard Computer challenge from out in the hall.

She raced out to join him and was surprised when she passed Courage by. He was standing to left of the door and Computer had apparently gone to the right. How he had not seen Courage standing there, she didn't know. Perhaps he actually had but pretended not to in an attempt to avoid starting another conflict.

Nina stared at the pup. He had a paw reached out as though he had just been about to call out to Computer. How long had he been standing there? How much of their conversation had he heard? She gave him an annoyed glare and turned to join Computer. She didn't feel like asking him at the moment. Actually, she didn't feel like talking to him at all right now.

End Of Chapter.

A/N: Whooo! The story has officially hit 300,000 words! Personal goal reached! I wonder if it can be considered novel length yet?


	109. An Attempt At Friendship

Chapter 109: An Attempt At Friendship

Courage hobbled along, keeping several steps behind Nina. He knew that she could hear his feet pattering behind her so she must have been intentionally giving him the cold shoulder. He spent several minutes trying to come up with something to say but it seemed that every word he wanted to speak simply got caught in his throat before it would come out.

Finally, after Computer had gone to go check out another room, he managed to work up the nerves to talk to Nina. "Why were you telling him stuff like that?" He asked rather nervously. He had tried to keep himself from sounding accusing but ended up failing completely in that regard.

"Because he isn't beholden to you, even if he acts like he is! You don't have the right to push him around just because he'll let you!"

Courage shrunk back, somehow managing to feel even worse. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find his voice yet again.

"I think it's terrible the way he refuses to blame you for anything!"

"Ugh! Will you two not fight?" They both heard Computer ask. He peaked his head out of the door, looking thoroughly unamused, and rolled his eyes at both of them. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that their fight had 'technically' been a one sided match.

"Hmph!" Nina exclaimed, crossing her arms in the process. "He asked me a question and all I did was give him an answer!"

Computer's eyes narrowed. "Nina, leave Courage alone. There's no reason to be so childish. You don't have to act like a bully."

Computer was trying to stop an argument instead of being the one who was doing the arguing? What on earth was going on here? He was being surprisingly mellow for a change, something which struck Courage as even more strange. Perhaps this was his own way of trying to make amends with them?

"Can we just worry about the 'evil me' running around right now, guys?" He asked, walking back over to them.

"Compute, I-" Courage tried to say. His voice was once again getting stuck. "I-I'm..."

Computer silenced him with a wave of his paw. "You don't have to apologize. It's alright."

They both turned to Nina, who was glaring daggers down at Courage.

"Oooor maybe you should." He backpedaled, giving the poor dog a brief, sympathetic smile.

Courage couldn't help but smile rather weakly himself. Just the fact that Computer was forgiving him so easily was enough to feel joy. Even Nina hadn't managed to sway him with all of her talk. Knowing that he did indeed value their friendship so deeply was both heartening and a bit frightening. Just how far would he go to insure that it continued? He had been willing to compromise his own safety just to make Courage happy with him again, and that was a very scary thought. Nina was right, he shouldn't let himself get pushed around, and Courage knew that he'd have to police himself better after this. No matter what Computer might do to push his buttons, he couldn't allow something like this to happen again. If Computer was striving to be a nicer person for the sake of their friendship, he could do the same as well.

"Now then, where do you suppose my evil twin has gotten off to?" The glowing dog asked, stifling a yawn as he spoke. "I'd try to figure it out but I'm just too tired to think straight anymore. If I were my evil self, I can only imagine that I'd-"

"G-guys!" Nina stammered out, interrupting him. She pointed a finger down the hall and began to tremble.

There it was, standing at the end of the hall and...waving at them?

Yes, indeed. It was just standing there, waving at them in what could only be taken as a mocking gesture.

"Is it...taunting us?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gritting his teeth and desperate to redeem himself, Courage charged forward. "I'll get it!" He called out to his friends.

"Courage, hold on! It might-" Computer tried to say, but it was too late to stop him. He instead opted to follow after him, probably thinking that he could keep him safe.

Courage raced forward as fast as his legs would take him. He ignored how tired he was and how badly his muscles were protesting his efforts. He refused to let his illness keep him from doing what he did best. He'd put an end to this imposter and prove that he were still the same dog he'd always been. He would use this chance to make up with the real Computer, and-

His foot hit something, causing him to fly forward. He face-planted with the carpet and was left temporarily dazed.

"Courage?" He heard Computer ask.

He slowly removed his muzzle from the carpet and groaned. What the heck had just happened? He hadn't seen anything in front of him that could have made him trip like that.

Computer stopped just short of where his friend had been sent flying and observed the spot carefully. He then took one big step over it and went over to help Courage up. They both turned their gaze onto his 'evil twin' to make sure that it hadn't tried to ambush them while they were both distracted. It was still standing there, completely unmoving.

"Hey! What just happened?" Nina called out to them, echoing Courage's own thoughts. She was running over to join them, her courage having apparently returned.

"Wait! Wait Wait!" Computer cried out. "Nina! Put on the breaks! You're going to-"

_**CRASH**_

"-trip..." He finished before letting out a groan and slapping his forehead. "Ugh, why do I even bother?"

"What's going on?" Courage asked, rubbing his still aching muzzle.

Computer went over to make sure Nina was alright, grumbling under his breath about idiots who never listen to him. He lightly kicked Nina in the side and she let out a muffled moan. Courage joined him at his side, glancing over at the unmoving imposter every few seconds to make sure that it wouldn't do anything while they were distracted. Nina slowly sat up, looking more angry than injured.

"Argh! What did I just trip on?" She asked, once again echoing Courage's own thoughts. She looked over at the place where her foot had gotten caught, but there was nothing there.

"'Evil' me apparently set a trap." Computer answered, walking over to the spot. "There's a wire here."

He reached down and plucked at the nearly invisible wire, making it thrum loudly enough for both of his friends to hear.

"I'd say that it's meant to be more of an annoyance than a real trap though." He went on. "My evil twin probably wanted to goad me into going after it first and when I tripped it probably would have tried to upload me out of this dog body again."

"Ergh, 'evil' you is kind of a jerk." Nina replied, wincing in pain from her fall.

"Then I guess it just takes after it's real self." Courage added in humorously.

"Gee, thanks." Computer replied with absolutely zero enthusiasm. "I'll have you know that I-OUCH!"

Both friends heard something whiz though the air and hit Computer in the back of the head. He turned and reached down to pick whatever it was up.

"A shoe?" He asked, showing both Nina and Courage the odd weapon. "Oh for the love of-" He sighed. "Who throws a shoe? Honestly!"

He turned his gaze onto the imposter. It was still standing there completely still. It didn't look like it had moved at all, much less thrown anything at him.

"Stop playing pretend!" He scolded the thing. "Nobody else could have thrown that shoe so stop acting all innocent! You think you're so funny, don't you?"

"Computer, be careful!" Courage warned him. He was ready to move at a moments noticed if that imposter tried to attack his friend again.

The glowing dog continued to stomp forward despite the warning. He was obviously less than pleased with his evil twin's antics. "Well, if you're not going to move then maybe I should come to you, hmm? Is that what you want?"

As he closed the distance between them, the imposter Computer suddenly came to life again and skittered off into the room on it's right. Whether it was trying to retreat or lure them into another trap was anyone's guess.

"It's going to try and escape through another window!" Computer called out. "I'm not going to let that happen again!"

Courage rushed forward before his friend could go running off on his own. They needed to stick together in case this was another trap. If it was, Computer would need all the help he could get.

"Wait for me!" Nina yelped. She stumbled forward and joined them near the door.

"Let's go!" Computer snapped impatiently. "There's no time to wait!"

He raced into the room, Courage on his heels. The imposter was once again just standing there, clearly waiting for them to enter. It continued to not move as Computer closed in on it.

Courage's eyes darted around the room, looking for traps. The room seemed completely normal to him, at least for now. If the evil twin was planning on doing something nefarious, it would have to be something invisible or well hidden like the wire.

"Alright, so," Computer spoke, stopping in front of his misplaced body. "Perhaps we've been going about this all the wrong way."

The imposter continued to stand stark still. It did not so much as move it's monitor or even regard Computer at all. It was impossible to tell if it were actually listening to him or not.

"Maybe you're not really the 'evil' me," He went on. "Maybe you're just, um, the 'misunderstood' me. Well, I'm willing to try and work things out with you if you're willing to do the same." He stuck a paw out to the statue-like machine. "Let's be friends!"

Courage's mouth fell open. Computer was actually trying to befriend the rampaging machine? It seemed like a dangerous thing to do but if it got that creature on their side and willing to tell them just _what _it is was, then perhaps it was worth a shot.

The machine craned it's monitor to the side, apparently mimicking a confused look. Computer's gesture of friendship had apparently stumped it.

"What's it going to be?" He asked it.

The thing considered him for a moment and then slowly began raising a claw off the ground. Everyone held their breath as it did so.

It kept it's metal arm raised, mimicking Computer's own paw, and waited for him to complete the 'ritual' himself. He looked exceedingly pleased that his plan had panned out and he quickly moved in closer to grab the imposter's claw.

Just then, in a flash of movement, the errant machine drew it's claw back and then flung it forward with as much force as it could muster, punching Computer square in the mouth.

"Ouch!" He yelped, grabbing onto his muzzle. He quickly gave the thing a vicious glare "You lying, _betraying_, son of a-"

He was forced to duck as it took another swing at him...

Grimacing, he balled his paw up into a fist and punched the machine back. Unfortunately, it bounced harmlessly off the imposter's screen, but not without very nearly breaking his own wrist in the process.

"Ow, ow, ow!" He yelped, jumping from one foot to the other and flailing his injured paw around in an attempt to try and lessen the pain. "You knew I was going to do that, didn't you?" He asked the errant machine as he cradled his arm.

It nodded vigorously in reply, and then, without a seconds notice, it reared back and flung forward, headbutting Computer and knocking him out cold right then and there...

Courage's mouth fell open again. "C-Computer?" He called out to his friend as he crumpled to the floor.

The imposter scurried forward on it's spider-like legs and pushed both him and Nina out of the way as it made it's escape through the door.

Gritting his teeth, Courage got back up onto his feet. He wasn't going to let that thing get away! Fuming with anger, he turned to Nina. "I'm going to go after it! Stay with Computer!"

He then bolted out the door before Nina could say anything back. He could see the fake Computer making it's way down the hall and he refused to lose sight of it. If only he weren't sick, he would have caught up with it in an instant.

"Get back here!" He threatened.

It turned it's monitor completely around without doing the same for the rest of it's body. It continued to run at a brisk pace without losing any of it's speed. Surprisingly enough, it could monitor the strange little dog chasing it without hindering it's movements at all. Whether it found this situation funny, or if it was genuinely scared of Courage, no one would have been able to tell. It's screen was completely unreadable. Even with the real Computer, Courage had often been able tell what he was feeling despite normally having an immovable screen for a face. Call it a doggy sixth sense, but Computer had always had a readable and very human aura about him that Courage could easily pick up on, but this thing? It was completely alien.

It turned into a room on it's left, completely disregarding it's pursuer. Courage slowed to a stop and let out a huff for air. He doubted that his body could take much more of this but he wasn't going to let that imposter get away either. He'd risk an attack if he had to. He wanted to make up for what he had done to Computer, and stopping his rogue body was the best way to do that.

Taking in a deep breath, he slowly made his way over to the door, ready for whatever that trickster might have planned for him next.

End Of Chapter


	110. Rage Against The Machine

A/N: Geez, 110 chapters already? I honestly don't know how much longer this story is going to be but it's going to end up being pretty darn long regardless. There's a lot more to cover and while we've been hitting the endgame for awhile now, its still got a ways to go. I've already decided to lengthen the bus trip portion of the story, which is coming up very soon, because I felt that it was a little too short to really convey just how long the trip to the mountain will take. The bus trip is a lot of silliness and humor and I've been looking forward to writing it for a awhile now. Aside from that, this current plotline is largely foreshadowing one of the newest and probably last edition to the story. Because we clearly needed more confirmation that Computer is the real main character of the story (LOL), I've finally come up with an origin story for him that I like. I was originally going to leave it ambiguous, then decided that I'd just hint at it a bit and leave it for a side story, but now I've finally come up with a backstory that I like (Trust me, I had a few ideas but ended up disliking most of them.) and have decided to incorporate it into the story itself rather than have it be a one-off short story. This current part is going to finish up dealing with the 'evil' Computer, the nightmare issue, a few sillier lose ends, and ultimately wrap things up with Nina before the departure. Oh, and first new chapter of 2014! Whoo! This is also the second longest chapter in the whole story. It's only beaten out by the mega length Dreamworld chapter.

Chapter 110: Rage Against The Machine

Entering the room with slow and silent steps, Courage was greeted only by boxes and other random items. Like every other room in the building, this one was filled to the brim with various things as well. The boxes were neatly plied all the way up to the ceiling and there was only just enough room to walk around even for someone as small as him.

Where had Computer's body gone then? He couldn't see it anywhere and unless the imposter had turned it's screen off, he couldn't spot any light coming from it either. He suspected that it was hiding in among the cluttered boxes, but even then, it should have been giving off a noticeable glow no matter where it had gone.

"Where are you?" He called out, feeling particularly brave. "I know you're in here! Come out!"

A soft creaking sound caught his attention from somewhere behind him and he whipped around just in time to see the door slowly inching shut. The imposter Computer was standing there, a claw up against the now closed door. It's screen was indeed switched off.

Courage took a step back, his bravery quickly turning into fear. It had hid behind the door this whole time! Now he was trapped in here with that thing!

The fake Computer seemed to regard him for a moment as it's screen flickered back to life. It removed it's claw from the door and 'stared' at him with curiosity. Then, moving with it's unnatural speed, it charged forward...

…...

A soft groan alerted Nina to that Computer was regaining consciousness. She knelt down beside him and placed a paw onto his back.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked.

Computer raked his nails across the carpet as he slowly raised his head up off the ground. Gritting his teeth, he angrily yelled, "That imposter is dead! _DEAD_!"

"Yep, he's mad..." She sighed.

Still ranting, he got up off the floor, clutching his head as he did so. "I extend my hand in friendship, f_riendship,_ and what does that good for nothing, half-baked copycat do? He goes and stabs me in the back!" He yelled. "I swear I'm going to rip off every last one of his legs! I'm going to shove his-"

"_ARRRRAAAAAGGGGGGG!"_

Nina watched as Computer's face went from blue to pale in ten seconds flat...

He immediately turned to turned to her and yelled, "You let him go after that thing all by himself? Are you CRAZY?"

"He, er, didn't exactly give me a chance to stop him." She replied with a shrug. "He was gone before I-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence though, Computer was already out the door and running...

…...

Courage let out a scream at the top of his lungs and only just barely managed to leap out of the way as the imposter came barreling towards him. It dug it's claws into the floor and slid to a stop upon realizing that it's prey had escaped it's attack. Panting, Courage watched as it turned it's screen onto him. He slowly inched backwards, afraid that it might try to charge him again.

No! He couldn't allow that thing to scare him! He wasn't going to beat it by being a coward! He'd have to be brave! He'd have to outsmart it somehow!

He stood up straight and glared at the fake Computer. He was ready to take it on headfirst. There had to be a way he could shut it down. Perhaps if he could just reach the power switch...

"Hiya!" He yelled, putting on a mock karate pose.

It craned it's monitor ever so slightly to the side, either amused or confused by his strange display.

"Let's finish this!" He challenged. "I'm ready!"

Apparently taking up the challenge, the imposter angled itself so that it was fully facing him once again. It raised a claw, and then with a strange sound a lot like metal grinding on metal, it's entire arm shot forward only giving Courage a few seconds to duck.

"Whoa!" He cried out, just barely avoiding the new attack.

He stared in awe at the stretched out arm. It reached all the way across the room, passing right through several boxes and had imbedded itself in the wall on the other side. The imposter quickly retracted it, showing not only a perfect claw shaped hole through the boxes, but though _the wall _as well. It had somehow 'fired' that thing with such force that it had actually gone right through the wall and all the way outside! Courage didn't dare think about what would have happened if that had been his head instead. If there was one thing for certain, Computer had never displayed abilities like this before...

…...

"Where did they go?" Computer asked in frustration. "We need to hurry! Who knows what that thing might do to Courage!"

"I-I don't know." Nina replied, clearly at a loss. "I was more concerned about you when Courage ran off."

"Augh! They could be anywhere!" He cried out. "Come on, dog! You were screaming like a little girl not even five seconds ago! Why did you have to shut up now? We're never going to find them if they don't start making some noise!"

"You don't think 'evil' you got him?"

"Don't even suggest that!" He yelped. "I won't allow it! If that thing so much as ruffles his fur, I swear I'm going to tear out every last microchip he has!"

"Calm down." Nina cautioned. "Getting angry just because your evil twin bested you isn't going to help us find them."

"This isn't about whether or not I've been insulted!" He shot back. "Courage could get hurt or-or killed! He just _had_ to go off and play the hero, didn't he? If he has one of his attacks out there that thing will slice him to pieces long before we ever find them! He's completely helpless when his illness acts up!"

"I'm sure he's fine. He's survived worse after all."

"He wasn't sick back then!"

"But that doesn't mean he's any less resourceful."

"If he really is alright, why isn't he screaming anymore?" He asked her, looking completely mortified. "Screaming to him is like breathing for everyone else!"

"I don't know, but we shouldn't go and assume the worst."

Computer shook his head. "Look, there isn't time to argue about this! I'm going to go check the floor below this one. There's a chance they went that way. You should check all the rooms up here. Just be quick about it. If you see anything, yell. That's better than anything Courage is doing right now." He grumbled out with a roll of his eyes.

"Alright, but be careful."

"The only one who needs to be careful is that good for nothing doppelganger! If he does anything to Courage..." He clenched his fist, displaying just how serious he was about all this. "Stupid, idiot dog! Always having to charge face first into danger! He's going to be the end of me!"

On that note, he took off running. There wasn't any time to waste. That imposter could have skinned Courage alive ten times over by now. He hated to think about what state he might find the dog in. Why did that idiot have to go after that faker all by himself? Didn't he understand what he was getting into?

Coming up to the staircase, Computer made a sharp turn for it. He didn't want to slow down for any reason. There were a lot of floors to check and his friend could have gone down any one of them. Just as he was about to step down onto top step, he felt something catch his foot and he stumbled forward.

Another wire trap. He had completely forgotten that his twin had set up a wire trap before and hadn't even considered the possibility that it might have set them up in other places as well...

He was sent crashing down every last step, hitting the bottom-most floor with a painful thunk. He could have easily woken up half of Nowhere with all the sound he made...

"Stairs..." He groaned. "Why is it always stairs? I'm so tired of falling down stairs..."

He didn't bother sitting back up. He hurt all over. Why, oh why did so many of his escapades always have to end like this?

_**CLICK**_

His eyes shot open at that sound, and, much to his annoyance and horror, he found a metal safe strung up by a rope above him, no doubt having been found in one of the building's many rooms and no doubt having been set up by his evil twin. Moving fast, he rolled out of the way just in time as it fell. The safe shook the entire building as it hit the floor.

"Ha! You're not going outsmart me, you stupid copycat!" He laughed. "You may have tripped me up once, but you're not-"

_**CLICK**_

Horrified, he looked up again. There was another, _identical _safe strung above him and he was two seconds too late to escape the falling chunk of metal.

"Oh, come on!" He yelled, mere milliseconds before,

_**CRASH!**_

…...

"Augh!" Courage cried out as he dodged a swipe from one of the imposter Computer's claws. He had procured a broom that had been lying around with the other items in the room, but the quick witted machine had nearly reduced it to splinters already. It was his only shield against the flurry of swipes and it wasn't going to last much longer.

"Eeesh!" He yelped, jumping back as the imposter took a swipe at his legs.

He retaliated by swinging the broom at it, but it easily jumped out of the way. It was so fast. He couldn't help but get the impression that it was only playing around with him. He had a horrible feeling that if this thing really wanted him dead, he'd be dead right now. How much longer it was willing to play around, he didn't want to know.

The imposter reached over and grabbed the broom right out of his paws. Using it's unnatural strength, it tossed it away only to have it hit the wall and stick into it like an arrow.

"Oh, no." Courage whimpered, backing away.

It fixated it's screen on him again and charged forward. Before he could even react, the machine tackled him and sent him flying into a pile of boxes.

Groaning, he slowly tumbled out. Various objects were falling all around him. It felt like he had been hit by a speeding car far more than being hit by a walking computer creature...

Thinking fast, he grabbed one of the things that had fallen out of the boxes and threw it at the machine. He was surprised to see it collided with it's monitor and fall to the floor. The machine glanced over at the object and craned it's monitor ever so slightly to side again. It then turned back to Courage.

"Yeah! You like that?" He asked thing. "Here! Have some more!"

He grabbed another item and tossed it at the renegade machine. This time it did jump out of the way. Seemingly frustrated with this new development, it reared up to charge at him again but he quickly threw another object at it and it was forced to get out of the way.

"Take that! And that!" He yelled, throwing everything he could get his paws on.

The imposter Computer couldn't avoid the entire rain of objects and thus began to suffer from several direct hits. Most of the stuff bounced harmlessly off it's monitor but it was clearly getting more and more annoyed by every failed attempt to avoid the barrage. Fast as it may be, a computer on spider legs was not exactly very maneuverable, especially when it was under fire from a bunch of small objects.

Courage picked up a hammer in among the other boxed items and threw it as hard as he could. He was left gasping when the angry machine suddenly _snatched _it right out of the air and flung it back at him. He didn't get a chance to duck down, and before he even knew it, he lying on the ground with an aching head and bruised muzzle.

"Ooooh, ow..." He groaned. He wasn't even given a chance to regain his sense before a claw grabbed his foot and pulled him, upside down, into the air. He was suddenly face to, er, screen, with the imposter and it did _not _appear to be very happy.

He swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. "I, uh-" He squeaked out. "I'm s-sorry for, ARAAAAGGGG-"

The irate machine swung him around by the leg like a medieval mace and then let him go flying. He struck yet another pile of boxes and before he could get up, the machine was already on him again. It clamped a claw down on his neck and began to squeeze...

…...

Nina had quite an annoying time trying to remember what the combination for that safe had been. The moment she got it open, Computer came tumbling out, looking considerably worse for ware.

"Are you okay?" She asked him. "I heard the crash all the way up on the top floor."

"I just had a two ton hunk of metal fall onto my head. How do you think I feel?" He asked, slowly getting back up onto his feet. "Bah! That good for nothing doppelganger set another trap!"

"Well, I haven't run into anything, except for that wire me and Courage got caught on before, but that was meant for you after all."

"How the heck did you get down here without falling?" He asked, rubbing his aching head as he did so.

This made her laugh. "I'm trying to be careful, unlike someone else I know. I figured that if there was any place an imposter would want to trip someone, it would be the staircase. Lo and behold I find a wire strung there."

"Bah! Whatever you say, Sherlock! Your 'deductive' skills didn't help me much!"

"That's because I'm not the one who's running around like a chicken with their head cut off." She jokingly replied.

"Only because I'm trying to get to Courage before _he's _the one with his head cut off!" He argued.

"Well, we should probably stick together then if that evil twin of yours booby-trapped the house. We might be a little safer that way."

"Hmph! You just want me to be the one who trips the traps before you do! Besides, we'll cover more ground if we split up again!"

"And who's going to help you if you get stuck inside another safe, hmm?"

Computer slapped his forehead. "Fine! Stay! But if Courage gets hurt because we didn't get to him in time, I'm blaming you!"

"Heeey, it's your body who's walking around, not mine!"

"And you're the one who keeps holding me up from going after it! Enough chit-chat! We need to get moving!"

"You started it..." She sighed.

"Did you check all the rooms on that floor we were on?" He asked her as he raced back over to the staircase.

"No, I kinda got distracted by the loud crashing sounds. I thought it might have been them but instead I found you practically crushed to death."

"Okay, we'll finish those rooms first and then-"

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't forget about the wire!" She cautioned him as he barreled up the staircase.

"Yes, yes! I'm not going to fall for the same trick twice!"

"I bet you would have if I hadn't pointed it out!"

"Says you!" He argued.

Upon reaching the top floor, they both made their way over to the first door on their right.

"Alright, so we were in that room down there when my evil twin knocked me out." Computer said, pointing down the hall. "You checked those other rooms over there, right?"

"Yep! I stopped right around here when you had your little 'accident' downstairs."

He rolled his eyes and reached up for the doorknob only to hesitate halfway there. "Why don't you go in first?" He suggested.

"So I can be the one who springs the trap?" She asked with a sigh.

"Bah! I seriously doubt there's a trap in there! My evil twin couldn't have had nearly enough time to booby trap the entire building!"

"If you don't think there's a trap in there, why are you so hesitant to go in?" She asked before crossing her arms.

"Fine! I'll go first!" He relented. "We're just going to waste time arguing like this anyway."

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the doorknob and walked inside...only to have a bucket come crashing down onto his head with a splash.

"Yeeeah, I think you're evil twin really did booby trap the whole house." Nina spoke, reaching down to help him pull the bucket off his head.

"You owe me!" He snapped the moment it slid up with a sickening, squelching sound. He was covered in some kind of thick, nasty, _something. _"Alright, seriously, what is this stuff?" He asked in a huff, trying to get some of it off himself but only managing to smear it in deeper into his fur. "Please, please, please tell me this isn't gasoline." He groaned.

"I don't think so." Nina replied. "We'd be able to smell it if it was."

"Ugh! I don't know if I should be happy that this isn't gasoline or worried because I'm covered in something that neither of us know what it is!"

"Look, I'll go get a towel and-"

"No! I'm not going to let that doppelganger have the last laugh! We need to keep moving!"

"A-are you sure?" She asked, rubbing her head. "It could still be flammable, whatever that stuff is."

"It's just an annoyance! Nothing more!" He snapped. He quickly stomped, or more like squelched over to the opposite door on their left. "I'll be the one laughing when I catch-"

_**POOF**_

The moment he opened the door, the hallway was suddenly flooded with white. Nina jumped back to try and avoid the barrage, but the strange snow was everywhere and completely inescapable.

She reached a paw out and grabbed one of the 'snowflakes'. "A feather?" She asked, staring at it with surprise.

Computer took a step back. He was completely covered head to toe in white feathers. They had stuck to him as easily as if he had been covered in glue. In fact, that stuff _could _have been glue.

"Pillow feathers?" Nina asked. "That imposter rigged a trap to cover you in pillow feathers?"

Computer spat out several of the feathers in reply. "That damn thing is just mocking me now, isn't it?" He asked. "I'll make it pay! I won't stand for this! First it betrays me! Then it attacks my friend! Now it's messing with me for _fun_!"

He turned back to the room and eyed something in among the unusual snow. He took a step forward to get a closer look and laughed. "Hmm, that might actually work! I think I've found the perfect weapon to battle my evil twin with! Ha! It'll put him out of commission long before he can even beg for mercy!"

Nina stepped in to get a closer look as well. "You've got to be kidding me..." She sighed the moment she caught sight of it.

…...

Courage was running out of air, fast. He shifted his eyes around, trying to find something that he could use to pry the machine's claw off of him. It's grip was growing ever tighter and he knew fully well that the thing could easily pop his head right off if it really wanted to.

_'Come on! There's gotta be something!' _He thought to himself.

He felt his paw touch an object and he grabbed it, pulling it up to his face so that he could see it.

_'A magnet!' _He exclaimed. Now he just had to find out if it would actually do something to the machine or not. He wasn't even sure if this strange being could be stopped at all anymore.

He waved the magnet in front of it's screen to show it what he had. He didn't expected it to react, but when it suddenly let go of him and jumped back in horror, he knew that the magnet did indeed frighten the machine. It '_was' _still a vulnerable piece of electronics after all!

Coughing for breath, it took him a few moments to stop gasping for air. He slowly stood up and glared at the imposter Computer, who was slowly backing away and clearly trying to get closer to the door.

"You're not going anywhere!" He yelled. He raised the magnet up in a threatening manner and the machine stepped back with fear. "Don't move an inch!" He threatened it.

He slowly took a step forward. The thing clearly wanted to run but it remained rooted to the spot. In some strange turn of events, he now had the machine under total compliance.

"If you run, I'll throw this at you." He said to it. "And you know what a good shot I am by now. Heck, I bet I'm an even better shot when this thing is attracted to you."

He got the impression that the imposter Computer was sneering him. He could practically see it on it's screen. Often as a pup he had felt that if he stared too long into Computer's screen he'd eventually see a pair of eyes staring back at him. That was how he felt right now. It seemed that if he stared at it too long, he'd eventually see the completely alien being inside.

"Alright, who are you?" He demanded. "_What _are you? Why are you running around in Computer's body and why are you attacking us?"

It seemed to consider him for a moment. A long pause followed before, much to Courage's surprise, letters began to type out across it's screen. It typed slow and deliberately, leaving him standing there holding his breath the entire time.

'We are-'

_**CRASH!**_

Courage jumped as the door slammed open. What he could only call a blue, glowing chicken entered the room. A pair of angry eyes could be seen peering out between it's feathers and it all but flung itself at the imposter the moment it saw it.

"Wait, Computer, don't!" Courage cried out, but it was too late. The words on the imposter Computer's screen had already disappeared and it was jumping backward to avoided the real and somehow feathered Computer.

"This is it!" Computer yelled. "You're going to pay for humiliating me!"

"Come on, Computer!" Courage growled. "I'd almost gotten it to-ACK!"

The 'evil' Computer had swung around behind him so fast that he barely even had a chance to register it. It clamped a claw around his neck and easily picked him up into the air. He felt the magnet slip out of his fingers and clatter onto the floor.

"Put the dog down, you half-baked faker!" Computer yelled.

The machine was on the glowing, feathered dog in an instant. It raised Courage into the air and...

_**WHAM!**_

_**BAM!**_

_**SLAM!**_

The imposter smashed Courage down onto Computer over and over again, much to the shock and surprise of both of them. It kept up at it until Computer finally stumbled backwards trying get away from the unusual assault.

He immediately turned to Nina. "Don't help or anything!" He yelled.

"Uh, that thing just turned Courage into a weapon. I think I'm going to sit this one out." She replied, laughing rather sheepishly.

Computer rolled his eyes and turned back to his renegade body. "You think this is all one big joke, don't you?"

It stood there staring at him, Courage still dangling by the neck, gripped in one of it's claws. It did not so much as twitch as it analyzed it's foe.

"Why don't you say anything?" He asked. "If I can talk, you can too. Speak!"

It craned it's monitor ever so slightly to side again, but it did not reply.

"Fine! Don't say anything then! But you had better put Courage down! I won't allow him you to harm him!"

It continued to stare.

"I won't ask you again." Computer threatened.

"Augh! Ack!" Courage choked out. The claw clamped around his neck was beginning to tighten. He reached his paws up to try and pry himself loose but that thing had an iron grip, _literally_.

"Now you're just trying to make me mad!" Computer yelled. "Put him down! NOW!"

"Aruuagh!" Courage choked. The machine was tightening it's claw even tighter around his neck. He couldn't breath at all anymore. At this point it felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head more than anything else.

"That's it! I didn't want to have to destroy my own body but you've left me no other choice!" Computer yelled.

"Are you sure about this?" Nina asked him rather warily. "We don't know what might happen."

"Oh, I know exactly what's going to happen." He replied, refusing to break eye contact with his doppelganger. "I'm going to shut you down for good!" He yelled, reaching a paw out to Nina and then, "Say hello to my little friend!" He yelled, catching the _huge _water gun that she tossed to him. He immediately pointed it at the imposter machine.

"Put him down or else you're going up in sparks!" He threatened. "I don't want to have to do this so don't give me an excuse!"

Courage's vision was beginning to fade. He didn't even have the strength to flail around anymore. If Computer was going to stop the imposter, it had to be now. Unfortunately, he couldn't even give a signal to his friend that he didn't have any air left.

"Last warning!" Computer growled.

Courage's neck nearly snapped as the imposter tightened it's grip on him one last time. He was able to let out one last choking gasp and that was it. A few seconds more and he knew he'd lose consciousness.

"Leave him alone!" Computer yelled, finally pulling the trigger on the water gun.

Rather than his doppelganger getting fried...it instead swung Courage around in front of itself and used him as a shield...

The next thing Courage knew was that he was cold and wet. It was enough to shock him out of his near unconsciousness. The imposter Computer's grip had lessened on his neck and he could finally breath again. Unfortunately, he was still being blasted with a torrent of water and was left sputtering for what little air he could get.

The water gun slowly petered out and Computer's fake was no worse for wear. It's screen held a few water droplets, but aside from that it hadn't gotten even slightly wet enough to get shorted out.

"Aww, come on! That's cheating!" Computer yelled. "You can't use him as a shield!"

"He obviously just did..." Nina quipped.

Absolutely fuming, Computer charged forward and jumped right onto the imposter's monitor, much to the surprise of all three watchers. He took the water gun and began bashing it down onto the monitor over and over again.

"Why, won't, you, DIE!" He yelled out between every hit. Sadly, the plastic water gun was not capable of doing anything except bouncing harmlessly off the machine. At the very best, he could only annoy his evil twin, and annoyed it was indeed getting.

The imposter raised a claw into the air and snatched the water gun right out of his paws. It tossed it away and then returned it's attention onto it's adversary. Computer was forced to duck out of the way as it swung a snapping claw at him.

"Alright, time for plan B." He said to himself.

He avoided another swing from his 'evil' twin and reached down to press the power button. His paw only just barely touched it before his imposter reached around and grabbed his arm. It was _strong_. All he had to do was put just a little more presser on the switch and yet...

It wrenched his arm away, easily overcoming him with it's immense strength. In a sense, they had just played an arm wresting match, and he had lost. As long as he were stuck in this weak little flesh creature body, his organic muscles would never be a mach against pure mechanical strength.

The imposter hadn't let go of his arm. It swung him forward, right off the monitor, and left him hanging there by his arm, staring into what had once been his own screen.

"What now, hmm?" He asked his twin with about as much defiance as he could muster. "If this is supposed to be the best you have to offer, I'm not impressed!"

"YAAAA!" Nina yelled, jumping into the fray. The imposter Computer swung the real one around and tossed him at her with enough force to send her flying back when he 'landed' in her stomach.

"Uaaaggh..." She groaned upon hitting the floor. She reached a paw down and grabbed Computer, who had all but been knocked out from his 'flight'. "Are you doing all right?" She asked.

"I'm feeling great. " He muttered out sarcastically. "I feel like I'm on top of the world!"

"Good for you." She groaned. "I'm the one who just had the equivalent of a glowing, blue bowling ball nearly knock a hole through my stomach."

"Oh, of course! And I'm the one who just had my head smash into the flesh creature equivalent of a brick wall!

"Well, maybe if you didn't have suck a thick skull..." She sighed.

"Hmph! Well, maybe if you didn't-" He was cut when a claw reached out from behind him and clamped down on his neck. The imposter Computer immediately wrenched him away from Nina and began bashing his head up again Courage's...

"Alright..._OW!_...it's official..._OUCH!_...we are..._That really hurts, you jerk!_...the most incompetent..._Again, really?_...team..._Not the face!_...EVER!" He cried out between blows.

"Computer," Courage choked out. "magnet..._ouch!..._over there..._ow!_...get it-ACK!" The claw around his neck tightened to try and shut him up.

Computer scanned the floor for the magnet. It was, of course, a bit difficult to do when your head was being repeatedly smashed up against your friend's, but...

"Nina! Over there! Get that!" He yelled, spotting the unmistakable horse shoe shape in among the rest of the junk.

"A magnet?" She asked, quickly moving in to get it.

"Yes! Hurry! It might just work!"

"Catch!" She yelled, tossing it to him.

The imposter stopped it's assault on the two dogs upon seeing the the magnet whirling towards it. It flung the real Computer away and jumped sideways to avoid the object. The magnet clattered to the ground and all eyes were left upon it.

"He still has Courage!" Nina cried out.

"Not for long!" Computer yelled, scrambling forward to get the magnet.

The imposter raced forward to stop him. It's spider legs were moving faster than they ever had before. It was too late though, Computer snatched the magnet up off the ground and tossed it at his twin. Well, that's what he had wanted to do, but...

"What?" He asked. Rather than go flying, the magnet had instead turned around and...attached itself to his arm. "Oh, come on!" He yelled, trying to shake the thing off. "Really, _really_?"

The imposter Computer all but crashed forward in a panic, using the distraction to try and make an escape. It was clearly afraid of being 'fried' by the magnet and it was doing everything in it's power to get away. It still held Courage in it's grip however, and it didn't appear to have any plans to let him go.

"You're not going anywhere!" Nina yelled, jumping out in front of it just as it neared the door.

It's only escape route blocked, the fake Computer swiveled it's monitor around to try and find a new course of action. The real Computer was still trying to contend with the magnet, but he was close enough to the only window in the room that his twin couldn't possibly escape through there without risking coming into 'contact' with the magnet.

It turned back to Nina and raised a claw into the air. That same metal grinding noise Courage had heard before started up again, signaling that...

He let out a squeak of a cry to try and warn her and she thankfully got the hint. She dove out of the way just before the claw shot forward, breaking right through the door and probably through the wall on the other side as well.

"Geez!" She cried out upon turning around to see the elongated arm going right through the door.

The imposter began retracting it's arm. As soon as it was through the door again, it swung it like a whip. Nina ducked once more just in time to avoid it. It hit the wall beside her with such force that it left a long gash in the wallpaper and the exposed wood behind it.

"Oh, man. Dad is going to be so mad when he sees this mess!" She yelped.

The whip like arm was swung again, this time striking her in the stomach and sending her flying. She hit the wall behind her head first and sunk to the floor.

"Nina?" Computer called. "Leave her alone, you good for nothing-"

He was cut off as the imposter turned it's whip onto him. He managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, but the claw did manage to strike his arm and it was enough to dislodge the magnet and sent it flying...right out the window. It left a horse shoe shape in the glass where it went through...

"Aaand we're doomed." He sighed. "Might as well just raise a white flag at this point. We're never going to-HEY!"

His doppelganger had smashed the door open, apparently having lost all interest in the real Computer once the magnet threat was gone. It scurried out of the room as fast as it's legs would take it and, unwilling to let the thing escape again, Computer followed suit.

"Get back here, you coward!" He yelled, but try as he might, he couldn't catch up with his twin.

In a last ditch effort to stop the machine, he dove forward. He managed to grab one of it's legs and very nearly tripped the thing in the process. It easily recovered from the immobilization of one of it's legs and began using the combined strength of all five remaining legs to try and pull itself of his grip.

"You are _not_ running off with my friend!" He growled. He was using every last ounce of strength his weak, organic body could muster. He would _not _allow this to happen. He would not allow his copy-cat foe to harm Courage.

"Let him go!" He yelled out through grit teeth.

This strange little tug of war was far from over. His doppelganger was strong, much too strong. He'd never known that his real body was capable of such strength. It was just one new enigma in along with the rest. If only it would talk. If only he could get an answer out of it...

Their stalemate continued on. He could feel his dog's muscles beginning to give out. They were all but shaking with exhaustion. How he had even mustered the energy to oppose the imposter's incredible mechanical strength, he had no idea. There was only one final option he could try, but no, that was out of the question. He would not use 'it', not even in a situation like this. Not even when Courage was...

"Compute, help!" He heard his friend cry out. "It's trying to-ACK!"

He could hear his friend's strangled attempts to breathe. The imposter was no doubt choking him again, obviously sending a message that if he didn't let go his friend would 'get it', so to speak.

This was it. He had to do it. Regardless of what might happen to him, he had to do it. Either his twin was going to strangle Courage to death right in front of his eyes, or it would just take him somewhere else and do something even more horrible to him later. He had to stop it, right here and right now.

Closing his eyes, he mentally reached for his power. As soon as he could start sensing the metal and machinery around him, he'd-

"Ah!" He cried out. He felt something clamp down on his back, breaking his contraction completely. He knew it was a claw, somehow that damn thing could spare one even with all the pulling it was doing, but he also knew that he couldn't risk letting go of it's leg, not even to try and pull the claw out. He could not spare a paw, there was no way he could keep holding on with just one arm.

"Upload in progress, huh?" He muttered, closing his eyes.

He didn't need to see the screen to know what was happening, he could _feel _it. He was once again being hooked up with his system, just like last time. There was no mistaking it now. There was nothing being downloaded into the dog. The imposter had never tried to download anything into the dog, it wasn't trying to get out. That thing was trying to suck him back in. It was trying to force him to face it head on in his own system. He was NOT willing to go through with that though. Whatever was lurking in there now, he didn't have to be hooked up to his system to know that it was bad news. It felt big, it felt powerful, it felt like something he had no chance of overcoming even when he was about to be put on a leveled playing field.

"Wait..." He murmured. "I know you. I know _all _of you."

The words, '_**COME HOME'**_, spoke clearly in his mind. He very nearly listened to them if not for the urgent desire to save Courage still grounding him to reality. Memories, so many forgotten memories suddenly buffeted him. For a moment, he knew everything. For a moment he was nearly swept up in the chaos of his remembrance, but then...he grabbed the claw and ripped it out of his back. Before he could even realize what was going on, it all went away in a flash. The entire strange event was lost, corrupted along with so many of his other memories. The imposter escaped, slipping through his fingers while he was temporarily 'lost', so to speak.

"Ugh, what just happened?" He groaned, rubbing his head.

A screaming headache threatened to split his skull in two. For a moment he was certain the imposter had hit him, but no, he didn't feel hurt at all, except for the headache itself of course. He suddenly couldn't remember how he had gotten there. It was like he had blacked out. He could remember chasing the imposter and grabbing it's leg, but then...nothing.

"Why, oh why do these things have to keep happening to me?" He muttered out sarcastically. He had to reach a paw out to grab the wall before he fell over. His head was pounding so hard that it was making his vision go black.

"I can't stop now." He quietly reaffirmed to himself. "That thing still has Courage and Nina needs help too."

He tried to keep his eyes open but that only managed to make his head hurt worse. Everything had gone blurry, well, at least when his vision wasn't going completely black instead.

"I hope she's okay." He sighed. "She's going to have to wait though, I need to go after Courage first. He's the one who's in the most immediate danger." He pressed a paw up against his forehead. "IF I can ever start functioning again." He grumbled. "For goodness sake, what the heck happened? What did that faker do? The only time I've felt even remotely like this was..." His eyes shot open, only to be assaulted by pain again.

"No, no, it can't be my system." He quietly reassured himself. "Not after all that work I just did. There's no way it could be anywhere near collapsing. It _is _here after all, in this dog body with me, it must be. At least I think it is. Actually, shouldn't it be there with my real body too? But...how can it be here and there all at the same time? Ugh, this nonsense is just making my head hurt even worse! If that stupid twin found a way to damage my system then I'll just have to work around it! I'm not about to drop dead again! Hmph! I didn't come back from the dead just to die again only a few hours later!"

How he was ever going to find his twin again in such a state, he didn't know. Rather than waste anymore time, he stumbled forward, using the wall to keep himself upright. He could only keep his eyes open for a few seconds at a time, lest he nearly double over from the pain it caused, but he wasn't going to give up because of it. He knew that the imposter could ambush him at any moment and he knew that he could easily pass right by it in his near blindness, but he had to do _something_. He couldn't leave Courage to his fate. If that thing was going to use his friend as bait, he'd just have to take it. He wasn't going to let Courage get hurt, or worse, killed.

"Of all the times I could use Nina's help," He said to himself. "she had to go get herself knocked out."

As he walked, the pain in his head slowly began to recede. That was at least one good sign. That meant it wasn't his system causing the issue. If it had been, he doubted he would survive. After all the fortifications both he and Courage had put into place, if it was still falling apart, that simply meant he had passed the point of no return. There would have been no means to save him if it had become that bad.

"Stupid flesh creatures and their stupid painful brains!" He complained. "Who ever thought headaches were a good idea? Honestly!"

Stopping for a moment, he shook his head. He could finally open his eyes now and his vision wasn't blurring as much anymore. He was still confused over what had happened though. What could his 'evil' twin do that would cause symptoms like that? Every time he tried to pick through his memory banks to find an answer he just...

"Something happened, I know it did." He whispered to himself. "It feels...wrong. Something feels incredibly wrong. Why can't I remember what happened? It was..." He trailed off, partly mystified. It seemed like he was so close to remembering something and yet he couldn't force it out. "Bet it's this stupid dog's brain." He sighed. "I can never remember anything while I'm in here."

He was reaching the end of the hall. To his right there stood one last staircase leading upwards. As he neared it he felt a cool breeze ruffle his fur.

"Hmm, that must lead up to the roof." He noted. "But why is there a breeze? Wait...the imposter didn't-"

He raced forward, panic welling up inside of him. "Courage!" He called out. He so badly didn't want his fears to be confirmed.

The staircase lead up to a door that had been left swinging wide open. A bright orange sky could be seen through it. The sun was finally starting to come up. They'd all been awake for such a long time now and now it was morning as well...

Gasping from exhaustion, Computer all but toppled onto the roof. His eyes immediately turned to the imposter. It was standing near the the edge on the other side and it still had Courage in it's clutches. It swung it's screen around to look at him.

"Put...Courage...down!" He yelled out to the thing. He was still trying to catch his breath.

Courage's desperate eyes met his. The poor pup looked worn out from all the nonsense that awful machine had been putting him through.

"I am not playing around anymore!" He threatened his twin. "I can shut you down in an instant if I have to! Don't think that I won't do it!"

The imposter responded by dangling Courage over the edge. He could almost hear the thing silently laughing at him as it did so.

Courage's pleading, terrified eyes never left his...

"This is your last warning. Put him down." He repeated, keeping much more calm this time. He turned his eyes away from Courage and let them fall onto that emotionless screen. This was it. Their confrontation was going to end here, one way or another.

He reached for his ability, no longer caring what would happen. There was no other way to stop his twin, he knew it. He'd shut it down at the source. No 'OFF' switch would be required. Somehow that thing was generating it's own power without an external source, or even a charge like he himself had been reliant on. He could feel it. Actually, he could feel all the electrical sources around him. Heck, he could even feel the plumbing in the walls below him. To what extent his unusual ability extended to was a mystery. Perhaps even metal itself was at his command. There was a good chance he was about to find out too if shutting down his doppelganger didn't work.

"Listen, it doesn't have to be like this." He said, trying to reason with it. "There's, well, there's never been anyone else like me around before, or at least as far as I've ever known. I'm perfectly willing to forgive you for everything you've done just so long as you let my friend go. I don't know who or what you are, but I'm sure we can find a way to work things out. I'd...I'd rather like to have someone who's the same as me around."

That damnable machine didn't even consider it. It released it's grip on Courage, and with a yelp of surprise, the dog vanished over the edge.

"Courage!" He cried out.

He did not wait another second. All the power running through his foe was severed in an instant. It's screen went dark and it toppled over without another sound. Thinking fast, he willed several cables to rip themselves free from within their walls and then had them burst out into the open air. He didn't know where Courage was. He didn't even know if his friend had hit the ground yet. Still, he blindly waved the cables through the air in a desperate attempt to catch his friend.

Utter relief washed over him when he felt the cables go taut. He'd done it! He had caught Courage! And better yet, he hadn't burst into flames for doing so either! He wasn't going to melt after all!

He willed the cables to move upwards until they were finally at level with the roof. Courage was completely caught up in them, looking both confused and as pale as sheet. The poor dog had probably thought he was as good as dead and even more so, he had probably gotten a good shock when those cables had burst out of the wall and caught him.

Smiling, he deposited his friend onto the roof and then let the cables fall limp. "Are you alright?" He asked, running over to his friend.

"D-did you just-" Courage stammered out. The poor dog really _had _turned a pale white.

"I didn't have a choice. It was the only way I could stop that annoying faker and save you from becoming a messy pancake."

"And y-you didn't-" He continued to stammer.

"I'm perfectly alright. Hahaha! I don't even feel the slightest bit warm! I'm sure that if I were going to burst into flames it would have happened by now."

He waited for the dog to calm down a bit more before continuing. "I don't think my body is going to cause anymore trouble. I can't feel any energy coming from it and that hopefully means it's out of commission for good."

"Are you...going to be able to use it again?" Courage asked.

"I didn't break anything. I just, 'shut it off', so to speak. It should still work fine."

"And what if that 'thing' is still in there?"

"Well, we'll just have to find out, now won't we?" He replied, walking over to his body and kneeling down. "It'll be a shame if it really is gone for good though."

"WHAT?" Courage yelped. "Are you crazy? That thing tried to kill us!"

"Well, I've been thinking that maybe whatever caused my creation, whatever might be in this machine that made it happen, perhaps in my absence the process began anew."

"Yeah, and that still doesn't change the fact that it did all those horrible things to us."

"Hmph! I bet you didn't know right from wrong when you were first born! It had only been alive for a few hours at most! I'm sure it didn't even have the slightest concept of morality!"

Courage placed a paw to his chin. "You seemed pretty darn intent on killing it before, you know. You weren't exactly giving it the benefit of the doubt when you tried to douse it with water..."

"I've had a change of heart." He laughed. "I'm sure I could have made some extra space in my system for it if it hadn't been so intent on, well, doing whatever it was doing."

"It's evil!" Courage yelped. "Everything it was doing was deliberate! It wasn't just a newborn causing trouble! It was doing all those things on purpose!"

"Oh, of course! That's easy enough for you to say when you're not the only dog who exists!"

Courage's ears drooped upon realizing what he meant. "Compute, I-"

"Well, if it is gone for good then we'll probably never find out what happened here." He stood back up with a sigh. "Let's get this thing back downstairs. I'd like to get hooked back up and make sure it didn't leave my system in shambles. Oh, and Nina's probably going to need help too."

"You left her there?" Courage dryly asked.

"I was more concerned with saving your ungrateful life."

"You couldn't have at least checked to make sure she wasn't, you know, dead?"

"Fine. Maybe I'll just let you get dropped off a building next time, how about that?"

End Of Chapter


	111. The File

A/N: Huge shout out to C2ndy2c1d who just did some awesome artwork for the fanfic. I'll leave a link to it on my profile page so go check it out! Also, hello to my new readers who found this through the art feature! It's good to have you on board! The more readers the better!

Chapter 111: The File

"YOU LEFT ME HERE ALL BY MYSELF?" Nina screamed. "My head could have been cracked open for all you knew!"

Computer let out an exasperated sigh. "And what was I supposed to do? Let that faker haul Courage off without a fight?"

"You could have at least checked to make sure I was okay!"

They continued to argue about it for several minutes longer. Both he and Courage had spent the last twenty minutes dragging his now lifeless body back to the room where Nina had been knocked out. Thankfully, it hadn't taken her very long to wake back up. Less thankfully, she's was about as angry as one might expect her to be.

"Look, can't we just call it a night?" Computer begged. "My body isn't going to cause anymore trouble and I'm about to keel over! Worst of all, I _still _need to check and make sure that _'thing'_ isn't lurking around in my system."

"Okay, okay." She yawned. "I'm going to bed then. Courage, do you want to come with me?"

He shook his head. "I'm going to stay up and make sure nothing bad happens. Computer might need my help."

"Alright." She replied, turning to the door. "See you both later."

"Come on, help me get this plugged in and then we can finally rest." Computer spoke, pointing over at an outlet.

Courage went and took some of items scattered around the room to put them away, that way there was room to place Computer's body down. He took an upturned box and used it as a makeshift 'desk' to put it. Computer was left with the job of having to plug in all the various wires, a task that Courage was glad he didn't have to do.

"You know," He heard Computer say. "I think I've changed my mind again. It's a good thing that I'm the only one of, well, whatever I am. I wouldn't wish my fate onto anyone. It's a miserable existence and it's wholly selfish of me to want someone else to have to-"

"Don't worry about it, Compute. When we have everything from flying pigs to mermaids, do you really think that a computer that can think for itself is really so strange that there's only one in the whole wide world?"

"That's not the problem though." He sighed. "I _hope_ there isn't anyone else."

Courage smiled. "I'm sure that if there are others like you out there, they couldn't all have had terrible lives."

Computer shrugged. "Spend a few years completely immobile and helpless to the whims of what your 'caretaker' wants, then come back to me and tell me what constitutes a 'good' life."

"You've just got to have a more positive outlook!" He laughed.

"There's nothing to be positive about when you're trapped inside your own body. It's only now, after I've spent so much time in this dog body that I've started to fully grasp just how horrible my immobility has really been. I didn't have much of a concept of what true freedom was like until now. If I had really taken the time to think about it back when I was struck by lightning, I don't think I would have ever left Muriel's body if given the chance."

"So what you're saying is that you like being a 'flesh creature' now?" Courage asked, still grinning.

"Of course not!" He huffed. "I just..." He hung on his words for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. "I don't know what I want." He announced, turning back to the outlet.

"I think a certain somebody is starting to like being a dog." Courage slyly laughed.

"Oh, yes." He quipped. "Having to learn how to do everything without thumbs has _truly_ been a magical experience."

"Aww, come on! It isn't that bad!" Courage chuckled. "It's better than having no appendages at all, right?"

"Hmph! Maybe just a little." He agreed, plugging in the last wire. "Alright, dog. If I do happen to run into a demonic entity after I get back into my body, you know the drill." He picked up a claw and waved it at him. "Gown first, _then_ the incantation. Don't get me stuck being the worlds first demonically possessed computer, alright?" He then plugged the claw into his back.

Courage waited on bated breath for the download process to complete. He watched the tiny computer monitor icon fill up and then...

"Oh my god!" Computer yelled, startling the poor dog enough to nearly jump out of his skin. The words that trailed across his screen were not in English. Whatever language it was supposed to be, it wasn't one that Courage recognized, not that he knew any other language to begin with.

"What?" He yelped. "Is it a demon? Is it that 'thing'?"

"What the hell happened in here?" The machine gasped. "Why is _that _over there? Why is_ this_ over here? Nothing's where it's supposed to be! All of my neatly organized programs and files, they're all in the wrong place! That good for nothing, cheap, copy-cat of an imitator moved everything!"

Courage's mouth fell open. "That's it?" He asked, staring unamused at the monitor. "That's what you're freaking out about?"

"Why? Why on earth did it do that? It's going to take me _weeks _to organize everything again!" He moaned. "And...and why are the language settings in Spanish? What does that have to do with anything? Ugh!"

Courage resisted the urge to slap his forehead. Of all the things to be freaking out about...

"This is serious, dog!" Computer snapped, noticing the pup's less than amused stare. "It makes me look like I'm a sloppy, _lazy_ machine. One who leaves programs lying around for everyone to trip over! My system is not a teenager's bedroom!"

"You've got some, er, really weird priories..." Courage groaned.

"And why is...oh for the love of-" The machine went on. "Alright, I'm done! Nope, not even going to waste my time being mad! I'm just going to let that idiot have the last laugh and call it a night. I'll blow a fuse if I keep trying to process anymore of this nonsense. Goodnight!"

Courage blinked with surprise as his friend's screen went dark. "Computer?" He asked.

The machine did not reply.

So, he really had shut himself off after all. Wasn't that always one of his grievances? That he couldn't shut down without external help? He must have used that new found power of his to do so if that were the case.

Sighing, Courage reached over and flicked the switch back on. He wasn't particularly amused by his friend's new 'trick' because he certainly didn't need Computer shutting himself off all the time now just to terminate conversations.

"Hmm, either I've gained the ability to time travel and it is now the year 3021, or my internal clock has been tampered with along with everything else..." Computer said the moment his screen flickered back to life.

Courage couldn't help but smile at the machine's quip. "How would I still be here if it was 3021?"

"Seriously, dog. What time is it? Haven't you had a chance to rest yet? You look terrible."

"It's only been a few seconds since you shut yourself off." He answered.

"W-what?" The machine gasped. "What did you switch me back on for? I was hoping that at least a day had passed by now!"

"I thought that maybe you'd want to go back into that dog to sleep. You said it yourself that you don't get any real rest inside your normal body."

"I'll have plenty of time to rest tomorrow, or should I say later today since it is technically morning right now? Well, whatever. I want to stay here where I can't do anymore dreaming. It'll keep you from having to experience my nightmares and it's the only surefire way we can keep anymore strangeness from happening."

Courage let his ears droop. "But..."

"I'll be fine. I've been doing this for a very long time now after all. Sleeping is a fairly new phenomenon for me, not what is normal."

"But, I know you're tired, and you just-" He went on, slowly trailing off.

"Bah! Sleeping is overrated if you ask me!" The machine tried to reassure him. "Don't worry about it, dog. There is no passage of time for me when I'm shut off, remember? I'll shut myself down and the next thing I'll know is you switching me back on again! Not a moment will have passed in my perception!"

"Yeah..." Courage sighed, glancing away. "You're right..." He still didn't feel good about it, even with Computer trying to convince him otherwise.

"Look, dog. This is the best way to go about it. Neither of us will get any sleep if we're stuck sharing nightmares. Especially when those nightmares apparently cause things to happen in the real world as well. We certainly don't need anything worse happening today."

"Are you _really_ sure about this?" He asked, gazing back up at the screen. "I-I could stay up while you sleep instead. You're the one who need it more, since you did just come back from being dead after all. A-and you got even less sleep than me before because of that nightmare."

"I'll be fine." He reiterated. "I may have defied death, but if you drop dead from your illness, it'll all have been for nothing."

"Okay..." Courage finally relented. "There's got to be a way to fix this though. We mustn't always share dreams because this is the first time it's happened since we used those rings. I mean, we were probably asleep at the same time back when I was in the hospital with Muriel, but nothing happened then."

"Proximity may be a factor." Computer noted.

"The only way we really could get answers about what's happening to us is if we spoke to that hobo again, and the only way we could get his attention is if we used those rings again."

"Wait, what? No, no, no! I don't want to go through that again! It was too awful the first time! I can't bear the thought of-"

"I just meant it as a suggestion." Courage quickly interrupted. "We'll consider it a last resort, okay?"

"Not even as a last resort!" He sharply replied. "The only way I would ever use those damn rings again was if my nightmares were somehow causing the apocalypse or something stupid like that!"

"Well, what if we did it so that it would be the other way around? That you'd go into my head instead of me going into yours?"

"Don't you remember? It was _both _of our heads practically being mashed together! It doesn't matter who uses those rings first!"

"Yeah, but the focus was still on you. I'm sure that if I used the rings first, it would put me into the spotlight instead. I don't have nearly as many problems as you do so I'm sure we could find that hobo pretty fast too."

"Not as many_ 'problems'_?" Computer asked. "Gee, thanks." He grumbled. "If my head is made up of garbage, I can only imagine what yours would look like."

"I wonder too." He laughed. If he could think of anything, it would probably be the farm. Actually, it would be the farm, but suspended in time. There would be no worries, no fears of death or dying. They'd all be there, his family, forever. Muriel and Eustace would never die of old age, he himself of his illness, Computer of his failing system. Life would be as it always was, never threatened by unwanted change.

"Hopefully, I won't have to find out." Computer sighed, pulling Courage out of his thoughts.

"Well, we can talk about it more tomorrow. I'm sure there's a way to fix this. There _must _be."

"It truly is a shame though." The machine sighed. "We went through all that nonsense just to make my nightmares go away and in the end it only managed to make them even worse."

Courage shook his head and gave him a soft smile. "Maybe it just means you're healing."

"Healing? What, are you turning into a new age hippie now?" He asked, a hint of amusement returning to his voice as he did so.

"I mean it!" Courage yelped out. "Things tend to get worse before they get better! Remember that cut you got from your fight with Rick? It hurt a lot before it got better, right?"

"Dog, metaphors just aren't your forte, are they?" He sighed.

"Augh! Don't just blow me off like that!"

"Hmph! I don't need _'healing'_,or whatever other sappy stuff you think!" He snapped. "I'm a mess, inside and out, and nothing is ever going to change that, so stop pretending otherwise!"

And then his screen went dark, surprising Courage. The pup rolled his eyes at his friend's reaction and reached for the power switch.

"You are not a mess!" He chided him. "Stop selling yourself short!"

"I am a total train wreck of a mess and that's that! Nothing you say will change what is a fact!" He yelled before proceeding to shut himself off once more.

Sighing, Courage flicked the switch back on again. "No, you're not!" He argued.

"Yes, I am! Stop talking like you know these things better than I do!"

His screen went dark for a fourth time...

"But I do know!" Courage yelled, flicking the switch right back on again.

"No, you don't" He argued before shutting himself off yet again.

"Augh!" Courage cried out, his frustration growing by the second. "How long are we going to keep his up?" He asked, powering Computer up once more.

"Until you stop it!" The machine snapped.

"I'm not stopping anything!" He stubbornly replied.

"Then it's about to become a very long morning for you, dog!" Computer threatened.

"Why can't you just admit that your not as much of a 'train wreck' as you like to think?"

"Because I'm not going to lie to myself!" He shot back. He then shut himself down for what was starting to feel like the billionth time.

Courage flicked the switch again...

"You know, all these resets can't be good for my system." He grumbled out the moment his screen lit back up again.

"You started it!" Courage argued.

"You're the one who won't give up!" He argued back.

"That _is_ kinda my thing, you know!"

"You truly are unbearable!" He snapped.

"I only do it because I care about your well being!" Courage replied, crossing his arms.

"Bah! I don't need you hovering around me like a nanny! You care _far _too much for your own good! I _would_ like to get some rest, but guess who's keeping me from it? If you really did care, you'd give this little tirade up and let me rest."

"Alright, alright." He sighed. "I'll let you win this time."

"Hmph! I don't need you turning into a self-help book, dog! Don't pester me anymore!"

"I'm not turning into anything! You're the one who's just being depressing all the time!"

"And that's my problem, not _yours_."

"So long as we're friends, yes it is!"

"If you say so." The machine grumbled, perfectly ready to give up the argument.

"Then we're in agreement!" Courage finally laughed. "See you tomorrow morn, er, afternoon!" He then reached over to flick the power switch off. For some odd reason, he felt that doing it for Computer instead of him having to do it for himself would come off as a gesture of kindness.

"Wait..." Computer said just as he was about to press the power button down. "There's something here, something that isn't supposed to be here."

Courage blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The third reset. Yes, that's when it appeared. I didn't think much of it before, but now..." He was saying this more to himself than he was to Courage. "It _must _be new. I know my own system. I know every file, every program, every..." He trailed off again.

"Uh, hello? Are you just going to keep me in the dark?" Courage asked, waving a paw in front of the screen.

"Hmm, oh, you're still here?" He asked, surprising the poor pup into near speechlessness.

"I haven't moved! How could you think that I left?"

"Sorry, I guess I was just lost in thought."

"What were you talking about then?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's a file. Even with my system looking like a disaster area right now, I know that it isn't one of my own. I admit, I was a bit surprised to see an unknown file just randomly pop up on in my hard drive so I got a little distracted by it."

"What's in it?" Courage asked. His curiosity was getting the better of him. This probably had something to do with that imposter, and if they could get some answers from the file...

"Are you kidding me, dog?" Computer huffed. "That faker probably left it there! Given the mess he made out of the rest of my system, I don't even_ want_ to know what he might have put into that file! I'm sure it's riddled with viruses, malicious programs, or-"

"Or it might hold an answer to what happened here today." Courage interrupted him. "It's worth looking into, don't you think?"

"That's easy enough for you to say when you're not the one who's at risk of being infected with at least a million viruses!"

He shook his head. "Guess I can't convince you, huh?"

"That stupid file is just giving me a bad feeling all around. It looks innocent enough, but..." He trailed off again.

"Computer?" Courage asked.

"Hmm, fine. I'll open it. It's like I... like I'm _drawn_ to it. I know I need to open it. I _must _open it. It's like it's been programmed into me. I feel that I'll go insane if I just leave it sitting there. It's so strange, and yet-" He was, without warning, cut off by a loud static sound.

"Ah, geez!" Courage yelped, startled by the noise. "What was that?" He asked, glancing back up at his friend.

Computer did not reply. His screen remained stuck on that bluish-green backdrop.

"Compute?" He asked, fear welling up inside of him as he did so. What just happened? Had he opened the file? Did something go wrong?

"H-hey, say something." He begged. "Are you alright?"

_**'You will not escape us forever.'**_

Big, bold letters appeared on the screen, accompanied by a high pitch, mechanical whine. The words did not scroll across the screen like they normally did when Computer was speaking, they simply appeared and disappeared without warning.

_**'When the time comes, you will join us.'**_

There was a moments pause and then the words were replaced with,

_**'WILLINGLY.'**_

A horrific screeching sound issued forth from Computer's speakers. Courage let out a cry and gripped his ears, trying to block the sound out. It felt like his eardrums were about to be shredded from the inside out.

"Augh! Stop it!" He begged. It was too much! He couldn't block it out! It was ripping through him like a knife!

**_'COME HOME. COME HOME. COME HOME. COME HOME.'_ **Scrolled continuously across the screen, filling up every last bit of space available.

Courage grit his teeth. He couldn't stand it! The longer he listened to that awful, mind-wracking sound, the more it started to sound like a multitude of voices screaming out in agony.

And then...blessed silence filled the room. He slowly opened his eyes back up and let go of his ears. For one horrible moment, he thought that maybe he had gone deaf.

"Computer?" He asked, thankful to hear his own voice. He looked up to find the machine's screen dark.

Part of him was too scared to try and switch him back on again, in case that awful screeching sound began again. On the other hand, he wanted to make sure his friend was alright. Taking a deep breath, he flicked the power switch back on, against his better judgment.

"Dog?" Computer asked the moment his screen flickered back on. "Please tell me that it's at least the afternoon by now? Bah, you still look terrible though, so I'm just going to have to assume that no time has passed at all."

"Are you alright?" Courage asked him, breathlessly. "After what just happened, I-"

"Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" The machine replied. "Why do you looked so worried?"

"You didn't notice anything that just happened? You didn't see those words or hear that, that _sound_?"

Computer's voice became rather wary. "What are you talking about, dog?"

"That file, remember? You opened it up, right? What else could have caused that?"

"File?" He asked. "O-Oh, oh yes! That file! I almost completely forgot about it! Strangely enough, it's gone now. D-Did I open it up? I can't quite recall."

"I think you did." Courage concluded with a nod. "So, you really don't remember anything that just happened?"

"I...don't." He replied, sounding confused with himself. "At least I don't think I do."

"How can you not know if you remember something or not?"

"It's strange." He replied rather simply. "Give me the details, dog. I want to know what all this nonsense is about."

And Courage did just that. He described the whole strange event to his friend, making sure not to leave out any details, no matter how small. The worst part of it all was trying to describe that sound. He knew that it would be the topic of his nightmares for a very long time to come.

"Am I being threatened?" Computer asked, sounding surprisingly shocked. "By whom? And why? Are you sure that message wasn't meant for you instead? What was the point of sending me a threatening message if I'm just going to black the whole thing out anyway?"

"You know," Courage answered. "Back when your body was still moving around on it's own, I almost got it to talk to me. It didn't really get a chance to say anything because you barged in at the absolute worst moment, but it did get a chance to refer to itself as 'we' back there."

"Wait? It talked?" Computer gasped. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"It, er, didn't really talk. It just put a few words up on your screen, that's all."

"So, that imposter not only left me a threat but it also apparently has a history of referring to itself as a 'we'. Just what the heck is going on here, dog?"

"Are you really, _really _sure you don't have a few demonic entities hiding out in there?"

"I-I don't think so." He answered, completely puzzled. "Look, I'm too tired to worry about this right now. If some demon wants to posses me, he can go right ahead. We can deal with it later. If this 'we' person wants to make me join him so bad, fine, just let me get some rest first." He lightly chuckled at his quip. "Well, goodnight then, Courage."

"Night." He replied, letting out a huge yawn.

He waited for his friend's screen to go dark before getting up and leaving the room. He trudged down the hall, down the staircase, and then made his way over to Nina's room. The moment he was inside, he clamored up onto her bed and promptly feel asleep at her feet. He was reminded so much of sleeping on Muriel and Eustace's bed that he actually had a good dream about them for the first time in what seemed like forever. For just that little while, it felt like he was home.

End Of Chapter

A/N: Oh, and I've also made a Tumblr. If you want to find it's just couragefan09 .tumblr. com, minus the spaces.


	112. A Day In The Life Of A Dog And Computer

A/N: There's now a preview picture of an upcoming character in the story. A link to it will be in my profile, as always.

Chapter 112: A Day In The Life Of A Dog And Computer

Around noon, Courage was awoken by Nina's dad rapping on the door. The exhausted ferret girl raised her head from the pillow and groaned as her father let himself in.

"It's your turn to take the lobby." He said with a yawn. "I need to get some sleep."

"Alright, alright." She muttered, not sounding particularly happy about it. "I'll keep an eye out for customers until, um, how about seven or eight?"

"Sure, that's plenty of time." He agreed.

Courage watched as he left the room. As soon as he was gone, he let his muzzle hit the bed again. He was so tired that he could hardly keep his eyes open.

"Sorry, Cour. I gotta go." Nina spoke, hopping out of bed. She looked just about as tired as he knew he probably did. "I can probably get a nap in while I'm down there. Customers don't show up very often anyway. I'll just get some food warmed up and then I'll be off to dreamland."

Courage let out a soft 'haruf!' in reply. It was somewhere between an English word and bark but he was too tired to try and amend it. He was already almost asleep again when a thought struck him.

"Hey, wake up Computer for me, okay?" He asked, not bothering to open his eyes again.

"Alright." Nina replied. "Where is he though?" She asked. "I could have sworn he was in here with us."

"Oh, uh, he's still in his normal body." Courage answered, opening an eye. "When I say wake him up, I mean switch his power back on."

"Oh, okay. I'll do that then. You just keep resting, alright?"

"Mmmhmm." He sighed, already half asleep again.

…...

When he woke up again, three hours had passed. The only thing that got him up was the feeling that his bladder was about to explode. One trip to the bathroom later and he was finally alert enough to stay awake. He still felt groggy and bit achy but he did feel well enough to go check on what his friends were up to.

He slowly made his way down the staircase as he didn't want to expend his energy today when he was supposed to be resting. Upon hitting the final step and reaching the kitchen, the sight that befell him left his jaw hitting the floor. Piles of dirty plates and bowls were everywhere. Not one inch of the kitchen was spared, and in among the chaos, sitting at the table, was Computer.

"What the heck happened in here?" Courage gasped.

"What?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow. He had a plate of food in front him.

"Y-You're _eating_." Courage exclaimed.

He let out a huff. "Of course! I told you last night that I wanted to try more of this eating thing!"

"But...but _look _at this!" Courage gasped, waving his paw around at the piles of dirty dishes. He was stunned into almost complete speechlessness by Computer's strange change of heart on food.

"I wanted to try a little bit of everything." He replied, completely unfazed by Courage's reaction.

The stunned pup went over to the fridge and opened it. The usually packed to the brim refrigerator was now almost completely empty.

"A little?" He asked, turning to Computer with his mouth still hanging open.

"Apparently I'm very adept at eating." He replied, still unperturbed.

Courage slapped his forehead. "You know what? I'm not even going to question it."

"What's there to question?" Computer asked, chomping down on a piece of fruit. "I'm no longer surprised by how you flesh creatures get so fat. This is a surprisingly enjoyable pastime."

"Well, you're going to get fat too if you keep eating!" He argued.

"Psh! You don't get fat overnight!" He replied, sticking his nose up into the air. "And as if I'd actually care about my body image, or this dog's body image, or...whatever image! We do so much running around anyway that I'd sooner turn into a walking skeleton than an overweight dog!"

"I'm telling you, it isn't healthy to eat an entire refrigerator packed full of food in one go! Where are you putting it all?"

"That stomach thing you flesh creatures have. Obviously!"

He slapped his forehead again and groaned.

It was at that moment when Nina entered the room from the lobby.

"Oh, hi, Courage." She said, not acting particularly fazed by the mess around her. When she caught sight of the poor pup's expression, she let out a sigh. "He's, er, been eating ever since we got up. I don't know what's caused him to change his mind about food."

"You don't think he actually came back as a zombie?" Courage asked, glancing up at her. "Maybe that's why he likes organic stuff now."

"Unless he starts trying to eat his fellow machines, I think we're going to be okay." She sighed out.

"You know," Computer spoke, pulling a bowl of ice cream closer. "Dogs are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world."

Courage cringed. "Don't start getting any funny ideas, okay?"

"I'm just saying." He replied, giving the horrified dog a mischievous grin.

"Wait, wait wait, d-did you just add ketchup to that ice cream?" Nina asked, looking down at the bottle of ketchup next to his bowl.

"Yes, why?" He asked, shoving a spoonful into his mouth.

"Ewww!" Courage all but gagged out.

"Gross!" Nina agreed.

"What? It's good!" He exclaimed, downing another spoonful of tomatoy flavored ice cream.

"I don't suppose you left any breakfast for me?" Courage asked, placing his paws on his hips. "Preferably something that isn't nasty!"

Computer rolled his eyes. "Hmph! I didn't eat _everything_! Go look around! You'll find something!"

Sighing, he did just that. Hopping up onto the counter-top, he moved several dishes out of the way and began searching for some cereal. Hopefully Computer would have left that alone. He had a bad feeling that there probably wasn't any milk left though...

"So, you were telling me before about what happened last night after I got knocked out." Nina said to Computer. "That means you can use your weird power without burning up now, right?"

"Yeah..." He answered, sounding a bit skeptical about why she was asking him that.

Her eyes immediately lit up. "Show me!" She demanded, practically bouncing around like a little girl.

"It's not really all that spectacular." He replied with a shrug.

Courage nearly jumped out of his skin when the microwave beside him started up on its own. Nina's disappointment on the other hand was almost palpable.

"That _was _pretty anticlimactic." She sighed. "Can't you do something awesome like stack a bunch of cars together or something?"

"Why would I want to do that?" He asked, taking a bite out of a sandwich which was apparently made out of both mayo and sliced rings of pineapple...

"Because it would look cool!" She exclaimed, bouncing again.

"Child..." He grumbled out, trying to get the overly rambunctious ferret off his back.

Courage finally found a box of cereal and jumped off the counter. He decided that he was just going to eat it right out of the box rather than try to hunt down a clean bowl and some milk.

"Don't call me a child!" Nina argued, her tail bristling with anger.

"Hmph! I call them like I see them!" Computer dared to say.

Nina opened her mouth to give him an angry retort but Courage cut in before their argument could go any further.

"Don't start fighting!" He yelled.

Nina crossed her arms and stomped back into the lobby. Courage on the other hand pulled up a chair next to Computer and sat down. He stuck a paw into the cereal box and began chowing down.

"Do you always have to start fights with everyone?" He tersely asked.

The glowing dog looked genuinely unhappy with that question. "I don't mean for it to happen." He spoke. "It just-" He slowly trailed off, his expression becoming sullen.

"Did you really think calling her a child _wasn't _going to make her angry?" Courage asked.

"But she is!" He asserted. "All I did was state a fact!"

"It was still going to make her unhappy either way! You should have known that it was going to cause a fight!"

Computer's ears drooped. "I suppose you're right." He admitted, glancing away. "I guess I'll just never be cut out for this friendship nonsense, huh?"

"You've just got to learn how to police yourself better. Try taking other people's feelings into account more often. You like to make quips but you never think about how it might make your friends feel."

The machine gazed back over at him, a small smile on his face. "Being disagreeable is within my nature. I can't so easily change who I am."

"You've already changed a lot, and besides, nobody is asking you to become a totally different person. You just need to work on," He grinned. "improving your character."

The glowing dog's eye twitched. "Never mention character improvement in my presence ever again."

Courage laughed and very nearly managed to choke on a marshmallow in the mouth as he did so.

…...

Shortly after returning to her post in the lobby, Nina decided that she needed a 'lunch break' and went back into the kitchen to gather up what little food Computer hadn't already eaten. After making her choice, both she and the two dogs decided to go back up to her room where she could eat in comfort since the kitchen was practically an unsalvageable disaster area at that point. They also made an effort to relocate Computer's body to her room as well, just in case it ever decided to get up and start walking around on it's own again. It now lay beside her bed, thankfully as dead as ever.

Nina was sitting on her bed, munching away at her food, while Computer on the other hand was laying sprawled out across the floor, looking more green than blue.

Courage leaned over him and placed his paws onto his hips. "I told you not to eat that chocolate. Dogs aren't supposed to eat chocolate." He shook his head. "Now I bet you're going to get sick and die...again."

"Ohhh, I wish the sick part would hurry up and finish so that I can get to the dying part." He moaned, clutching his stomach.

"I'm sure eating half a store worth of food has way more to do with this than chocolate." Nina commented.

"Why does eating hurt so much?" He weakly asked. "How do you flesh creatures survive going through this three times a day?"

"You just ate too much, that's all." Nina replied.

"How can there be a limit on how much you can eat when there's so many different kinds of food to try? It doesn't make any sense!" He complained, rolling over onto his stomach and immediately regretting doing so.

"Just because there's a lot of food to try doesn't mean you're supposed to eat all of it!" She argued.

"Machine logic is strange, isn't it?" Courage laughed.

"I don't see how you can go from hating food to wanting to eat too much of it." She sighed, taking another bite of her dinner.

Computer was now pulling himself forward on his stomach, trying to get closer to his real body. "Must...escape...the _agony_..." He moaned, reaching a paw out towards one of his claws.

"Oh, no you don't." Nina announced, placing a foot between him and his body. She reached down, picked him up, and began shaking him in her anger. "You are NOT going to make that dog suffer while you hide in your real body just because YOU decided to overeat! You're going to sit in there and stick it out like a real flesh creature, you got that?"

"Uuuugh, I suggest you stop shaking me before all that food ends up on you instead." He warned.

"Gross..." She grumbled, letting him drop to the floor.

The poor, agonized machine clamored up onto her bed, in an effort that was quite amazing given all the extra 'weight' he was now carrying around.

"Compute, are you going to be alright?" Courage cautiously asked.

The glowing dog flopped his head down onto the pillow. "I hate _everything_." He groaned, pulling the blanket up over his head.

"Drama queen..." Nina muttered.

End Of Chapter

A/N: I told you about chocolate, bro. I WARNED YOU, DAWG!


	113. Of Tall Men And Dog Treats

Chapter 113: Of Tall Men And Dog Treats

Courage was forced to abandon Nina's bedroom in order to escape Computer's constant moaning and groaning as he rolled around in his sleep. That girl was pretty much right to call him a drama queen. Even as he slept he still acted like his stomachache was about to kill him.

Regardless, Courage decided to get himself comfortable in the lobby instead. Nina pulled out a blanket for him to lay on and he sat there for awhile. As the afternoon rolled on, he couldn't keep himself from getting tired again and eventually fell asleep. He wasn't sure how long he managed to nap but he was shocked back into wakefulness when he heard Nina yelling.

"Hey, Nina, is something going on?" He asked, sleepily raising his head up off the blanket.

There was a horrible, panicky feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't shake off no matter how hard he tried. When she didn't answer his question, he looked up to find the desk that she was supposed to be sitting at completely empty.

He couldn't quite recall what she had been yelling about. It was all a jumbled up mess in his sleepy mind. Had it been a dream? But where had she gone then? Could something bad have happened while he slept? No, he didn't think he'd sleep through something bad happening. Normally even the slightest sound was enough to wake him up.

"Nina?" He called out, raising his voice somewhat. Where had she gone?

The sun was starting to go down outside and its light gleamed in through the windows, bathing the lobby in an orange glow. He must have been sleeping for awhile now if it was getting that late. Nina's father would probably be getting up soon, and what about Computer? Was he still sleeping as well?

He hobbled his way through the lobby and into the kitchen. Much to his relief, Nina was there and looking completely unharmed. She was at the sink, washing dishes and very clearly bored.

"Hey!" He happily called out to her.

"Hi, Cour." She sighed. "I'm just cleaning up a certain somebody's mess. I'd make him do it himself but he'd probably find a way to accidentally drown himself in the sink or get poisoned by trying to eat the soap or something. I figured that if anyone showed up in the lobby, you'd come and get me." She turned around and grabbed a towels to dry her paws off with. "Speaking of which, there isn't anybody here, is there?"

Courage shook his head. "Nope!" He answered. "Hey, uh, were you yelling before?" He quickly added.

She raised an eyebrow. "No, why?"

"I could have sworn I heard you yelling just a few minutes ago. It was loud enough to wake me up."

"I haven't spoken a word since you went to sleep." She replied, placing a paw onto her hip.

"What about Computer? Could it have been him yelling?" He knew without a doubt that it had been Nina's voice he heard, but it was still worth asking anyway.

"I haven't seen him." She answered. "He's probably still up in my room. If he had been yelling loudly enough for you to hear, I should have heard him as well."

"Guess it wasn't him then." He sighed. Everything about this made him feel, well, _bad_. That awful panicky sensation in the pit of his stomach wouldn't go away.

"We can ask him if he's heard anything when he comes down." She suggested. "Although his upset stomach might keep him out of commission for the rest of the day." She added with a laugh.

"Maybe that was his stomach screaming." Courage joked.

"I bet it was begging to be put out of it's misery!" She agreed. "Oh, and that reminds me of something!" She said, quickly turning around.

Courage watched with curiosity as she grabbed a small bag off the counter and brought it over to him.

"I dug these out for you. They're probably a bit stale, and I can't remember where they came from, but..."

She opened the bag and the smell that hit his nose immediately sent his mouth watering. He let his tongue flop out of his mouth and he began panting with joy, just like a real dog. He could feel his tail wagging a mile a minute and he knew that he couldn't stop it even if wanted to. She had dog treats! Even the mere smell of them was almost overwhelming!

"I suppose there's no reason to ask you to sit or shake..." She went on.

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" He exclaimed, happily bouncing up and down.

"I guess I'll give you a few of them then. If I let you eat the whole bag in one go I'm sure you'd end up just like Computer." She placed a paw into the bag and took out one of the bone shaped snacks. "Catch!" She yelled before tossing the treat at him.

As nimble as a cat, he snatch the treat right out of the air before it even hit the ground. He surprised himself with just how high he had jumped. Nina too looked shocked at his newly acquired acrobatic ability.

"You've still got some spring left in you after all!" She laughed. "I bet you were the fastest dog around before you got sick!"

He was too busy chewing on the dog treat to answer her. He'd never tasted anything so good in his entire life, well, except for Muriel's cooking. Speaking of which, why hadn't she gotten him treats like these more often? They were amazing!

Nina allowed him to have three more treats before finally 'cutting him off'. He would have, without a doubt, eaten the whole bag if he could have gotten his muzzle into it. She then took to rubbing his belly, another activity that he thoroughly enjoyed. He lay there on his back with his tongue hanging out and his rightmost leg shaking of its own accord.

"Who's a good puppy?" She laughed, scratching him even harder.

He flopped over onto his stomach so that she would scratch his back too. He stretched out this way and that, completely content with the world.

"You're such a good dog!" She went on, scratching him behind his ears. "I bet nobody's petted you in a long time!"

He let out a happy little sigh and rolled back over again for another belly rub. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Computer, upside down, over by the stairs, watching the two of them rather warily.

"Hey! Are you feeling better?" He called out to his friend.

The machine turned and walked back over to the stairs, ignoring the question. Confused by his strange reaction, Courage got up and went after him.

"Where are you going?" Nina asked.

"I'll be right back!" He replied, glancing back over at her.

She let out a sigh. "He's probably still feeling sick. Let him be." She tried to assure him.

"I just want to go check on him, alright?"

"If you say so." She relented. "He's probably going to be even more grumpy than usual though..."

He nodded and then raced over to the staircase, bounding up it on all fours. He just managed to catch Computer as he hit the last step.

"Where are you going?" He asked, panting from the exertion that it took to get up the stairs.

The machine shrugged. "I'm heading back to Nina's room. What does it look like?"

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Of course."

Courage noted how frank he was being. He only ever really acted like that when he...

"Well, come back downstairs with me then." He urged his friend. "Why were you heading back up here in the first place?"

"Oh, well," He muttered out, rubbing the back of his head. "You two looked like you were having a lot of fun and I didn't want to rain on your parade."

Courage blinked. "What? Why would you think that?"

"You know how it is. When I'm around, everything becomes one argument after another. I didn't want to ruin the fun you two were having."

Courage put on a smile. "Come on, don't be so depressing!" He then grabbed his friend's arm. "Let's go! Nina's waiting for us!"

Computer resisted his efforts to pull him down the staircase. "I'm perfectly happy to spend some time alone. I don't want to be a bother. Besides, I've got some work to do on my system anyway. I've had a chance to sleep and-"

Another tug on his arm almost sent them both tumbling down the stairs. Relenting with a heavy sigh, he let Courage guide him back down into the kitchen.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see you walking again, not after how much you ate!" Nina greeted him.

He made a gruff sound in his throat and went over to the table.

Courage ignored his friend's less than pleasant mood and went back over to Nina for another scratching session. He flopped over onto his back and sighed with content as she rubbed him down. This went on for a good ten minutes and he'd almost fallen asleep when Nina spoke up again.

"Why are you being so quiet?" She asked.

Courage opened his eye back up. She had a point. Computer hadn't spoken a word since he was forced to come down. Surely the scene he was witnessing right now had enough material for him to crack a joke about.

"I don't have anything relevant to say." He answered with a hint of stubbornness. "What, do you want me to start a running commentary or something?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just saying. You '_are'_ being unusually quiet."

Courage sat up. "Is everything okay with you?" He asked, giving the glowing dog a concerned expression.

"Of course!" He replied, dismissing him with a wave of his paw. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"He's just being a big, blue, glowy sour ball!" Nina exclaimed. "He probably needs another nap!"

"I can't argue with that." He muttered, placing his muzzle onto the table. "I'm exhausted."

Courage's stomach dropped at his words. "Compute, are you having a hard time sleeping again?" He asked with even more concern.

The machine raised his head back up off the table and regarded his friend for a moment. "Well, you'd have a pretty hard time sleeping too if your stomach felt like it was about to implode."

"...No nightmares?"

He placed his muzzle back down onto the table. "What do you think?"

He gave the machine a sympathetic smile. "You really can't catch a break, can you?"

"Tell me about it." He groaned.

"Hmm, I think you're just being grumpy because you didn't get a belly rub too!" Nina interjected with a laugh.

"Touch me and I'll make the oven come to life and eat you."

…...

After a somewhat late supper, Nina hooked up an old TV in her room and they then watched a few ancient VHS tapes on it. The VCR was so old and tattered looking that it was an amazement it could play any movies at all anymore. The picture was grainy and in black and while, but the movies were so old that it didn't really matter anyway.

All three of them sat on the bed while the watched. Computer was more or less thoroughly uninterested in the movies, only bothering to complain every once in awhile about how cheap or cheesy they looked. Courage on the other hand spent most of his time under the covers, too scared to watch what was happening on the screen. Nina practically cheered every time a giant monster or alien ate someone.

"You know what? I think I need some more popcorn!" She exclaimed, grabbing the remote to pause the movie. "Sit tight, you two. I'll be right back!"

Courage dared to peak his head out from under the covers and immediately saw the giant slime monster on the screen. He let out a small yelp and drew the covers back up over his head.

"You aren't seriously scared of that movie, are you?" Computer asked somewhat condescendingly. "It looks so fake! You can practically see the wires!"

"Arufu!" He argued from under the covers.

"There truly isn't a limit to your cowardice, is there?" He asked with a sigh. "You know, all this cheap excuse for horror reminds me of a rumor I always see floating around on the internet."

Courage pulled his covers down a little bit. "What kind of rumor?"

"A _scary _one." Computer laughed. "Well, I don't find it scary, but everyone else does apparently. I'm surprised you've never heard of it, given what happens to you on a daily basis."

"I-I don't think I want to know!" He yelped, pulling the covers back up again.

"You might already be cursed though. Most people don't realize what's going on until it's too late."

"W-What do you mean?" He whimpered.

"It's always difficult to notice at first. He'll be there, in the background of a picture or video you took. Everyday he'll get a little bit closer to you. You might see him out of the corner of your eye, or he might be standing just outside your window and you never noticed it, or maybe he'll even be hiding somewhere within your own home."

Courage gulped. "W-Who's 'he'?"

"Nobody knows. The only thing that is for certain is that if you see him, you eventually vanish."

"W-What does h-he look l-like?"

"Ah, that's the interesting part." Computer went on with sly smile. "Accounts vary but most say that he looks like a well-dressed man...with no face."

"Eeep!" Courage yelped, hiding under the covers again.

"They say that he looks like a man, but the closer he gets to you, the more he changes. Some say that he starts to grow a monstrous face, other say that he gets taller and taller until he no longer resembles a human, the most prevalent theory is that-"

The room went dark at that very moment, all except for Computer's glow of course. Courage almost had a heart attack right then and there.

"You did that, didn't you?" He demanded, pulling his covers away. "Don't try to scare me!"

"What? Me?" Computer asked innocently. "I didn't have anything to do with this. Why on earth would I waste my ability on a stupid scare? You're so easy to freak out that it wouldn't even be worth it!"

In a huff, Courage jumped off the bed and went over to go flick the light switch back on. "I don't believe you!" He argued.

He had to jump to flick the switch, but even after that the lights still wouldn't turn back on. "This isn't funny!" He yelped.

"You see!" Computer demanded. "I didn't have anything to do with this! The power must have gone out on its own. Well, as I was trying to say..."

With an annoyed sigh, Courage turned around to head back over to the bed.

"...the most prevalent theory about the faceless man is that when he's about to make his victims vanish, he sprouts these nasty, black tentacles and-"

Courage let out a gasp as something wet slapped onto his shoulder. All the color left his face as he slowly turned his head to look at it.

It was a black, slimy tentacle...

Half paralyzed by fear, he slowly turned around. He was greeted by a pair of shiny shoes and dark pants. Trembling in terror, he looked up to find a _faceless _head looming down at him.

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"**_

He leaped through the air and landed right onto the bed. He then scrambled behind Computer in an attempt to hide.

"ABUBBUBBUBUB!" He cried out from behind Computer's back, pointing over and over again at the tall, faceless man who was clearly standing there right in front of them. "ARRRRUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

And then...Computer began to laugh? Courage let his mouth fall open in dismay as the faceless man began to laugh too.

"Ah, yes! Revenge is a beautiful, _beautiful _thing!" Computer chuckled.

"W-wha..." Courage stammered out.

The faceless man reached up and began pulling at it's head. No, not a head, a _sheet_. It was removed to reveal Nina, who was still cackling like a madwoman.

"We got you good!" She laughed. "How did you even manage to fall for that? My head isn't shaped anything like a human!"

"I told you it would work!" Computer snickered.

"Huh, wha..." Courage continued to stammer.

"I think we broke him." Nina joked. "Look," She showed him the 'tentacle' which was actually just a sponge painted black.

Computer gave him a sly grin. "Did you forget that we were going to prank you? Yes, we did get a bit sidetracked at first, and yes, I did have to come back from the dead for this, but I've finally had my revenge!"

Courage let out one final squeak of protest and then toppled backwards in a dead faint.

"Was that, er, supposed to happen?" Computer asked, glancing back up at Nina.

She was wrestling her way out of the black business clothing. "No, that's just Courage being Courage!" She giggled.

End Of Chapter


	114. A Dog's Innocent Affection

A/N: One more picture of yet another new character. You can find the link in my profile.

Chapter 114: A Dog's Innocent Affection

Coffee, the greatest thing about being a flesh creature.

Computer joyfully grabbed a cup in the lobby and headed back into the kitchen with it. He sipped away at the cup while he paced around the table in circles, trying to stave off his sleepiness. He'd already decided that he wasn't going to bed tonight, not so long as Courage was as well. He wanted to spare the dog of anymore of his nightmares and the only way he was going to do that was by never being asleep when he was too. They'd already risked it earlier today when Courage had apparently taken a nap while he was sleeping as well, and that couldn't be allowed to happen again.

"Maybe I should just go rest inside my real body." He muttered to himself. "I won't have to deal with all those awful nightmares in there."

They'd been getting progressively worse lately. After the one that had helped unlock his power, they now had a certain sort of reality to them that made it almost as bad as real life, if not worse. Combining the lack of logic in a dream with the terrors of reality only made for one horrifying experience. Considering what he gone through while sleeping earlier today...

He shuddered. There was no reason to think about that! Courage and Nina didn't-

"I've got to start being a better friend, to both of them..." He murmured, clutching his cup even harder. Surely he was at least a decent friend? A _somewhat_ good friend? ...A tiny bit of a good friend?

"If only..." He sighed. "They're always saying that I'm a good enough friend, but I can't be, not really. I bet they only say those sorts of things just to make me feel better."

Bored with his pacing, he pulled out a chair and clamored up into it. Courage had recovered from his fainting spell about an hour ago and now Nina was giving him a bath. That girl was finally getting the dog that she had so badly wanted, even if it wasn't permanent. Computer himself had made sure to stay as far away from them as possible, to avoid getting dumped into the tub as well. Perhaps it was because of his near brush with death after the office incident, or maybe even after what had happened in the forest, but he really didn't enjoy getting wet. And besides that, he didn't want to ruin the fun they were having. If he couldn't be a decent enough friend to them, the least he could do was stay out of their way. They certainly didn't deserve to have their joy taken away from them. Even if he didn't mean to, he always seemed to find a way to make them argue or-

A soft _thump_, _thump_,_ thump, _sound caught his attention and he turned his gazed over to the staircase. Nina hopped down the last step and into the kitchen, looking particularly happy with herself. She immediately turned to him and placed her paws onto her hips.

"It's bath time, grumpy!" She commanded, barely holding her laughter in.

"Excuse me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "I told you already, I don't-"

The ferret girl practically leaped over the table to get to him. He took one last gulp of coffee, knowing that this wasn't going to end well, and dove off of the chair.

"Knock it off!" He yelled, dodging her attempt to tackle him.

"You need a bath! You've still got that glue all over you! Beside, when was the last time you were clean? I'm going to have to start calling you stinky instead of grumpy!"

"I do not stink!" He argued, jumping under the table for cover.

"Well, you don't exactly smell like roses either!" She snapped.

He made a beeline for the stairs, hoping to make his escape into one of the various rooms upstairs. If they had a hard time finding his renegade body, well, they'd have an even harder time finding him!

"Oh, no you don't!" Nina yelled, diving for him. He had only made it up two steps before she wrapped her paws around his torso and picked him up. "Gotcha!"

He groaned and gave her a vicious glare.

"You really aren't a dog." She sighed. "You're more like a fussy, robotic cat."

"I am not a robot!" He cried out, flailing around in an attempt to free himself from her clutches. "And I am not a cat either!"

He fought her the whole way up the staircase, down the hall, and into the bathroom. His complaining was abruptly cut off when he was thrown into the tub with a splash. Thoroughly unamused, he surfaced as quickly as possible and came almost nose to nose with Courage.

"Hiya!" The pup said, looking about as happy as a dog could possibly be.

"Why am I sharing the same bathwater with _him_?" He spat, crossing his now sopping wet arms. "I'm probably more dirty now than I was before getting in!"

Before he could protest further, Nina grabbed a brush and went to work on him. Stifling yet another groan, he could only sit there and bear it as she did a better job of ripping off his fur than actually getting the glue out.

Courage continued to grin at him like an idiot. The water behind him was churning like there was a propeller attached to him, no doubt actually being his tail which must have been wagging a mile a minute under the water.

"You're really getting into this whole dog act, aren't you?" Computer asked him, cringing as Nina took the brush to his back.

"You got a problem with that?" He asked, his grin becoming mischievous.

"Well, no. It's just a bit weird." He reluctantly replied. Perhaps under normal circumstances he would have said something more along the lines of, 'You look like a complete idiot!', but now he couldn't even find, ironically, the courage to criticize the dog. He looked so happy after all, and who was he to try and ruin that?

"Compute, I've made up my mind." The overly happy dog went on. "I'm going to stay up tonight so that you can get some rest instead."

He, of course, opened his mouth to protest, but the dog raised a paw to stop him, hitting him with an annoying amount of water while doing so.

"You're the one who always has a hard time sleeping so you're the one who always gets the least amount of rest. I've gotten plenty of sleep today so I can handle staying up all night. You on the other hand look like you're about to drop dead...again."

He shook his head. "You're sick and I'm not! You _need_ to rest! As much as you like to pretend otherwise, it _is_ a matter of life or death!"

"I'll be fine." He replied, still putting on a smile. "Besides, you're sick in your own way. It may not be a 'flesh creature' illness, or even a machine virus, but your failing system can be seen as an illness in a way too."

He crossed his arms again in defiance. "I'm not sick! I'm just an ancient, broken down machine! Missing a single night's worth of sleep isn't going to make my system fall apart, but your sickness could easily kill you without a moment's warning!"

"You know," Nina interjected. "It's pretty funny that you two argue more about who should be nicer to who than actually getting angry and throwing insults at each other like you used to do all the time."

"It's no less annoying!" Computer spat out in reply, turning away from the dog and sticking his nose up into the air.

He felt Courage place a paw onto his shoulder. "Look, I want to do something nice for you for a change."

"You're kidding, right?" He asked, slowly turning back towards his friend. "You've done far more for me than I'll ever be able to repay. I'm the one who nev-OUCH!"

Nina had reached over to try and yank yet another clump of glue out of his fur...

"Do you mind?" He cried out.

"Your fur still needs cleaning!" She replied in a singsong voice. "Wanna help me, Courage?"

Computer's ears fell at her words. "Wait, uh, hold on just a-"

Courage's smile became mischievous again. "Remember how you tried to scare me half to death with that tall guy?"

"Now, now, it doesn't have to be like this!" He yelped, backing up against the tub. "I won't have any fur left if both of you idiots try to-"

They both swarmed him...

…...

"Well, don't you look pretty now!" Nina joked, plopping Computer down onto her bed.

"Ugh, I can't feel anything anymore." He grumbled, rubbing his aching fur, or whatever was left of it...

She tossed him a hairbrush. "Either get brushing or else I'm going to do it for you."

"Bah! It's not like you could humiliate me any further anyway!" He shot back with a roll of his eyes.

Courage hopped up onto the bed and sat down next to him. The dog was still absolutely glowing with joy. He really did look like the happiest dog in the world at that very moment. The complete change in his demeanor over being treated like a real dog just _once _was truly a stunning sight to behold. Did he really act like this around Muriel all the time too?

"I can practically see your IQ dropping by the minute." Computer drolly commented on him. He immediately kicked himself trying to insult the dog. Why did he always let himself slip up like that?

Courage ignored the quip, much to his relief, and gave Nina a pleading look. She easily recognized what he wanted and went over to pet him some more. Computer slowly inched away, feeling that he would become ill if he stayed too close to that love-fest any longer. He 'tried' to sneak away and escape downstairs, but he hadn't even made it halfway across the room before his absence was noticed.

"It's getting late." Nina told him. "And it's past your bed time."

"Don't you dare talk to me like I'm some prepubescent kindergartener!" He yelled out with a considerable amount of outrage. "I'll go to bed whenever I _feel _like it!"

Nina placed her paws behind her back. "What if I got you one last cup of coffee? Then will you go to sleep?" She asked.

Grumbling under his breath, he crossed his arms. "If it will get you to leave me alone..." He muttered.

One cup of coffee later, and after drinking it at an intentionally slow pace, he finally settled down in Nina's old makeshift bed that she had made for him all those nights ago. It was only after a considerable amount of complaining that he manage to get his two friends to stop looming over him like he were a newborn about to kick up a fuss. He didn't dare actually try to fall asleep until Nina herself was snoring in her own bed and Courage had gone to sit on a blanket that she had put out for him.

Every couple of minutes he'd open his eyes to find the dog still wide awake. He was indeed keeping his promise about staying up all night. The only problem was that Computer himself couldn't exactly fall asleep either. As tired as he was, the thought of having yet another nightmare kept him wide awake. It wasn't like earlier today where he had been so tired that he couldn't even keep his eyes open, and after what had happened...

"Hey, Compute?" He heard Courage say.

He swallowed rather weakly, and, half expecting his friend to have read his thoughts, replied with a, "Yes, dog?"

"I knew you were still awake!" He lightly laugh. "Come over here."

"Why?" He asked, slowly raising his head up off his pillow.

"Just come over here!" He whispered.

"If you insist." He sighed. Getting up from his tiny bed, he headed over to Courage. "Alright, dog. What do you-"

He was cut off by his own surprised gasp when the dog wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer. Before he even realized what was going on, his muzzle had been forcefully buried into the dog's chest.

"Ugh, you do realize how awkward this is, right?" He asked, completely unamused by his friend's antics. His voice was ever so annoyingly muffled thanks to the overgrown fur ball currently trying to smother him to death.

"Nope!" The dog laughingly replied.

He wrenched his head away from his friend's grasp. "Just because you like being lovey-dovey all the time doesn't mean I want to be on the receiving end of it! Go cuddle with Nina or something because you're about to make me throw up! This new 'doggyness' of yours is _seriously _starting to weird me out!"

Courage looked more than just a little disheartened. "But, I-"

"No buts!" He quickly cut him off. "I don't do all that gushy, lovey, affection nonsense! Nina's the one who's around to pet you and do all those stupid dog things with you!"

Giving him as pathetic of a stare as possible, Courage continued to try and persuade him. "But I really like having another dog around with me, and I was just trying to make you..."

"I'm not a dog!" He snapped. "I may be stuck looking like one right now, but I am certainly not a dog!"

He flopped back down onto his makeshift bed with a sigh. The dead silence that followed was almost unnerving. It only took about half a minute for him to regret what he had said and immediately raised his head back up again, hoping to make up with his friend.

"Courage?" He called out, but the dog wasn't on his blanket anymore. A quick scan of the room revealed that he had silently made his way over to the door. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"I want to walk around a bit." He yawned. "It's the only way I'm going to keep myself awake." He gave him a rather unconvincing smile. All that doggyish joy seemed to have left him...

"Look, you don't have to stay up." He replied, trying to convince his friend to go to bed. "I'm having a difficult time falling asleep anyway and we _both _don't need to be stuck walking around like zombies tomorrow."

Courage shook his head. "Stay there and at least _try _to get some sleep, alright?" He asked.

Before Computer could say anything else to him, the dog slipped out of the room. Had Nina not been sleeping, he would have yelled a few choice words at that annoying pup. Forcing himself not to get angry, he plopped his head back down onto the pillow.

"Oh, great," He sighed out with a roll of his eyes. "I've gone and messed everything up with him again, haven't I?"

If there had been any hope of him getting any sleep that night, it had been absolutely crushed by what had just transpired. Try as he might, his mind wouldn't 'shut down' enough for him to truly fall asleep.

"Bah! This is hopeless!" He quietly spat. "That stupid dog just had to-"

Climbing out of his bed yet again, he turned his gaze back over to the door. "There's no reason to get angry." He chided himself. "I'm obviously not going to feel any better until I get that dog to go to sleep. There's no reason why he should have to suffer when I'm not even slightly sleepy to begin with."

He tip toed his way out of the room and forced the hallway lights on with his power. Why was that dog running around in the dark? Computer was his own flashlight, but him?

"Courage?" He called out. It was very likely that the pup had gone downstairs, but he seriously hoped that this wouldn't turn into another scavenger hunt. He didn't want to waste the entire night trying to track down his friend in this oversized building.

"Dog, are you here?" He called out again as he neared the staircase. Well, at least he'd have an excuse to go get another cup of coffee at this rate. Surely the dog was down in the lobby with Nina's father? Where else would he go?

He gasped upon finally reaching the staircase. The sight that befell him nearly made his entire body go numb with fear. There, on the floor at the very bottom of the steps, lay Courage...

"Dog!" He cried out, very nearly tumbling down the staircase in his haste.

Had the dog's illness acted up? That couldn't be the case, could it? Whenever an attack came on, he usually screamed so loud that half of Nowhere could hear him. There should have been more of a warning than this!

Ten million awful thoughts rolled through Computer's mind as jumped over the last few steps. What if the dog had broken his neck? What if he were...

"Come on, dog! You've got to be alright!" He yelled, refusing to give into his own pessimistic thoughts. He quickly knelt down beside his friend, hoping beyond hope that he had only just blacked out.

What on earth had he been thinking by letting his sick friend run around on his own like this? How could he have been so stupid? He should have just insisted on staying up and letting Courage sleep instead!

He was relieved to find that the dog was still breathing and thankfully didn't appear to have any broken bones either, as far as he could tell at least. There were several large bruises beginning to form across his torso though. Whatever had happened, he had to have taken quite a tumble regardless.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he toppled backwards. Perhaps he had been too quick to panic. Courage had survived falls way worse than this after all!

"I'm getting too old for this..." He groaned.

With little other choice, he sat back up again and made his way back up the staircase to go wake Nina up. He was going to need help getting Courage back into her room and she was the one who'd have a better idea if he was seriously injured or not.

"What was that stupid dog thinking?" He wondered to himself. "What was '_I' _thinking?"

End Of Chapter


	115. Bedridden

A/N: After a lot of consideration, I've finally decided that I am going to split this story into a second half after all. When I really think about it, given what's left to write, I could easily see this going over 200 chapters, and I don't want that to happen. I've agonized over this a lot harder than I probably should have, because I've always seen this story as one big whole, but splitting it up is honestly for the best at this point. I have a bad habit of thinking, 'Oh, this part will only be three chapters long! No big deal!', only to have it turn into a ten chapter adventure. Given just how much stuff is coming up, I'm sure it's all going to end up being a lot bigger than I think it will be. So on that note, All Things End will be completed upon Courage and Computer's departure from Nowhere, which is coming up several chapter from now. The story will then be continued in what I'm currently calling, 'All Things End: Volume II', and I hope to see you there.

Chapter 115: Bedridden

"Alright, I put him down in that room with the extra bed." Nina spoke as she re-entered her bedroom. "I made sure to change the sheets because that bed hasn't been used in a long time."

Computer let out a semi-sigh of relief. He was still tense, and he was probably going to remain that way for a long while. Courage hadn't shown any signs of waking up and there was a very good chance that he might remain that way for several days, if not more.

He fidgeted with his paws as he stood there. "Don't you think one of us should at least keep an eye on him?" He asked.

"He has a terminal illness!" Nina argued. "If he starts getting worse, it's not like there's anything we can do for him."

"I suppose you're right." He admitted, bowing his head.

He hated knowing that there was nothing he could do to help his friend. Keeping Courage safe _was _his job after all. To fail at that was to practically fail at his life's purpose. Regardless of what little he could do, he didn't think it was right to just leave the dog all alone in there. Perhaps if he didn't wake up soon, he'd head back in there and keep watch over him for awhile.

"Looks like it's going to be another sleepless night." Nina sighed. "I really don't get much sleep with you guys around, huh?" She half-heartedly laughed.

"Go back to bed, I'm not asking you to stay up with me." Computer quickly replied, somewhat distracted. He was lost more in his own thoughts than he was listening to what she was saying.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked. "I'm wide away now! You scared me half to death when you came barging in here yelling about Courage!"

"Sorry." He muttered back, still lost in thought.

"You're guilt tripping yourself, aren't you? Ugh, stop it! You can't help what happened to him!"

"He should have been resting, not wandering around in the middle of the night!" He yelled, finally pulling himself back into reality. "And why? Because I'm a complete wimp who cowers in fear at a few nightmares! I shouldn't have let him stay up! He keeps pretending he's not sick when he really is!"

"Courage just wanted to make sure that you got some rest."

"His needs are greater than mine!"

"It was his choice to make!"

"Well, he's an idiot! He can't be trusted with his own health!"

Nina shook her head. "You know what? I think you're just being overprotective...as usual."

"Overprotective? Look at where he is now!"

"I bet you five bucks that his illness would have acted up tonight no matter where he might have been."

"Maybe so, but he's always had trouble with stairs. He probably overexerted himself, and, well, now he's sitting in a bed with his neck nearly snapped in half. I would have preferred for him to have an attack somewhere safer, somewhere where we could have tried to help him."

"Uh, remember? Terminal illness? We can't do anything for him."

He let out an exhausted sigh. "That doesn't mean he should have had to tumble down a staircase without anyone around to help him."

It was then when Nina smiled. "He _did _have help though."

"Two seconds too late..." He muttered out under his breath.

Much to his chagrin, she reached down and picked him up.

"I'm not going to let you stand around and mope all night, you got that?" She said, grinning at him.

"I'm not moping." He listlessly replied. He couldn't even work up the energy to protest her picking him up like he were a stupid mutt.

"You said that you'd tell me about your past one of these days, remember? Now would be as good of a time as ever, because we're obviously not going to get any sleep tonight."

"Great, as if I need something else to be depressed about!" He exclaimed.

"C'mon! You might not get another chance!"

"I might end up having forever if Courage doesn't make it!"

"Are you really going to leave me in the dark?" The ferret girl asked with a frown. "What if after you two leave, you don't ever come back? What if your bus crashes, or-"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'll give you the whole story. Don't get your tail into a knot." He relented. "You may as well get comfortable, this isn't something that I can sum up in a few sentences..."

...

Letting out a weak groan, Courage twisted around under what he could only assume was a blanket. His head was pounding, most of his torso ached, and his mouth felt like it had shriveled up into dust. He slowly opened his eyes only to find blurriness. His vision seemed to vibrate with the thumping of his heart and no matter how many times he blinked, he could not clear it up.

"Wha-what happened?" He whispered to himself. His voice cracked with every word he spoke.

It took him a moment to remember what had happened. He'd been on the stairs, and then...

He shivered.

It had come on so fast. He'd been feeling fine and then the attack struck without warning. Before he even had a chance to cry out, he had lost consciousness. There had been no prolonged pain, no writhing or muscle spasms. He'd been awake, a flash of agony, and then nothing.

Reaching down, he felt a massive bruise running across his torso. That must have been from his fall. Maybe that was why he hadn't gone through the usual amount of pain that came on with an attack. He must have been knocked out before the worst of it hit.

It took several minutes for both his mind and vision to clear up. He slowly sat up, groaning from how stiff he felt. The room spun all around him and for one horrible moment he was worried that the sickness he had picked up in the forest had begun to act up again. He hadn't taken his medicine for several days now because he hadn't felt like he needed it. If he really was getting sick again, he would be in for another rough time.

It was then when he noticed the blue color tinging the dark room with a weak light. He glanced down to find Computer fast asleep at the foot of the bed.

Blinking with surprise, he asked, "Compute?"

One of the glowing dog's eyes immediately shot open. He jumped up onto his feet and toppled backwards with about twice as much surprise as Courage himself was displaying. "You're awake!" He gasped. "I-I don't believe it!"

He almost slipped off the edge of the bed in his surprise, but thankfully caught himself before he did. He placed a paw up against his chest and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! I'd almost given up!"

A knot began to form inside Courage's stomach. Just how long had he been out? Before he could ask, Computer's demeanor suddenly changed and the next thing he knew, the glowing dog was practically on top of him. If the room hadn't been spinning enough before, it certainly was now with Computer shaking him like a snow globe.

"What were you _thinking_?" He demanded. "Do you have any idea just how stupid you are? The depths of your brainlessness is truly a sight to behold! Why must you always make me fret about your well-being?"

Despite nearly getting shaken half to death, Courage couldn't help but smile. "You've been waiting awhile to get that out, haven't you?" He asked.

"I've had plenty of time to practice!" He spat. He let out another sigh and finally managed to calm down. "You know, when I said I wanted time for us to rest before we continued on our journey, I didn't mean go and knock yourself out for five days straight!"

His ears drooped at the revelation. "Has it really been that long?" He asked.

Computer rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't worry. I counted." He grumbled. "I got to spend the entire time wondering what I was going to do with myself if you didn't make it. I was about to start typing out a resume and everything."

Courage gave him a weak smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"A little late for an apology, don't you think?" He quipped. Finally, a relieved smile fell across his face. "Ah, but that doesn't matter now! You're awake and you're going to be alright! Everything is going to be fine!"

He then proceeded to wrap his arms around him in a rather awkward hug. Courage wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy or surprised by his friend's action, but it took him a moment to formulate a response regardless.

"Hey! I don't do all that gushy, lovey, affection stuff!" He told the glowing dog, stifling a laugh as he did so.

Computer pulled away from him, his smile instantly becoming a frown. "Ha, ha, very funny!" He sarcastically replied.

End Of Chapter


	116. On The Road To Recovery

Chapter 116: On The Road To Recovery

"Well, do you need anything?" Computer quickly asked, eager to get off the topic of his hug. Before Courage could even get a word in, he raised a paw to stop him. "Before you say anything, if you need food, I promise I won't touch anything more than the microwave. You don't have to worry about me giving you food poisoning."

Laughing, Courage replied with, "I could use some help getting to the bathroom, actually, and I could use a nice big cup of water too, but I don't really think I could stomach any food right now."

The machine nodded. "Alright, that should be easy enough, but don't expect me to carry you there, princess."

"Can't have you doing any hard labor, can we?" He snickered.

"Well, it's not my fault that you weigh half a ton."

"Hey! I don't weigh that much!"

"You've never had to pick yourself up, now have you?"

"Alright, alright, just lend me an arm, okay?"

Despite his limbs feeling like rocks, he managed to wiggle his way out from under the blanket and slide down the bed. Computer helped keep him steady the moment his feet hit the carpet. Without his help, he would have collapsed right on the spot.

"I feel like I've been sleeping for a few years instead of just a few days." He commented, shakily raising a foot and taking a step. Even with Computer's help, he barely had the strength to move.

"Hmm, this clearly is going to take some time." The machine replied rather reluctantly. "Maybe I should go wake up Nina and see if she can-"

"It's alright! I can make it!" Courage quickly interjected. "Just keep me from falling over and we'll get there soon enough."

"Are you sure?" Computer asked, raising an eyebrow. "It would only take her a second to carry you down the hall."

"I'm not _that _helpless."

"Oh? And if I were to let go of you here, you'd land flat on your face. Aren't you already helpless?"

"Don't argue! Just get me down to the bathroom! My bladder is about to explode!"

…...

After a long and slow trek down the hallway, Courage finally completed his quest to get to the bathroom. Upon finishing up his business, he staggered back out into the hall where Computer was sitting beside the door, waiting for him.

The glowing dog did not make an attempt to stand up, instead he said, "I, er, told Nina, well, _'everything'_ that night you first passed out. You know, all that stuff you wouldn't tell her yourself." He closed his eyes and let out a weak sigh. "...It wasn't any easier for me to talk about than it was the last time."

Courage sat down beside him. He could easily tell that his friend was troubled about this. "Well, that's okay." He tried to reassure him. "It's not something that you're just going to get over without a second thought. It would be more worrying if you didn't feel anything at all about all the awful stuff that happened to you in the past. It was bad, it happened, and nothing is ever going to change that it did. You've just gotta move on from it."

"Move on..." He grumbled out, hanging his head. "I've gotten so tired of those two words. It feels like they've been occupying my mind far more than anything else lately, and it doesn't even help in the end."

"It's like I keep telling you, you're not going to feel better in just a day. It takes time to heal."

The glowing dog rolled his eyes. "Here we go again with that hippie style healing nonsense. Oh, well." He stood up and offered a paw to Courage. "I will admit though, I was mostly staying in that room with you just to get away from Nina for a little while. After I gave her my whole story, you'd swear that she was more traumatized than me! That girl has been acting so strangely ever since! I needed to get away from all the horrified stares she'd give me every time I'd walk into a room. There's only so much awkward silence one person can stand!"

Courage readily accepted his paw and was pulled back up onto his feet. "I don't blame her." He chuckled. "You really do seem to be carrying half the world's reserves of bad luck."

"Well, anyway, I'm sorry that I brought it up." He replied, his voice growing solemn. "I shouldn't keep troubling you with my own issues." He gave him a surprisingly regretful expression and then turned away, seemingly ashamed.

Courage blinked, wondering why his friend was still so dead set on thinking that it actually bothered him whenever he brought up his 'issues', if that was what he was going to call it now. He was always willing to listen to whatever Computer had to say, didn't he know that now?

"You can always talk to me." He said with a smile. "It doesn't bother me at all!"

Computer did not look convinced. With an unenthusiastic sigh, he returned to the topic at hand. "Let's get you back to your room. You're obviously not fit to be walking around right now and we can't risk you getting any weaker."

…...

It was a struggle to climb back up into the bed, even with Computer's help, but once he was there, Courage flopped down onto the pillow without a second thought. He knew that he wouldn't be able to move even if he tried. His recovery was going to be a slow one this time around, but so long as he had help, he'd make it through.

"I suppose you still need water." Computer spoke from below. "I'll be right back then."

Courage let out a muffled sound in agreement. He needed the water, badly. As Computer's footsteps faded away, he almost drifted off to sleep, but before he even knew what was going on, he felt a light jab in his side and he opened his eyes.

"Still hanging in there, I presume?" Computer asked, hunched over beside him. He must have climbed up onto the bed at some point, but Courage couldn't remember hearing him return. There was a glass of water in his paws and just the mere sight of it alone was a relief to behold.

"Thanks." He said to the glowing dog as the cup was handed to him. He downed it in several gulps and immediately regretted doing so. He spend several moments fighting off a wave of nausea, but once it was gone, he felt rejuvenated.

"Need anything else?" Computer asked. There's was a hint of desperation in his tone despite trying to hide it behind an air of boredom. His unusual behavior was starting to concern Courage quite a bit but unfortunately he was just too tired to peruse the issue.

"No," He replied, fighting just to make the words come out of his mouth. "I think I'll just rest for now. It's getting pretty late anyway, right?"

"Very." Computer affirmed without a second comment.

Yes, he was acting very strangely indeed.

Courage stared, unsure of how to react. Computer was keeping his distance and not being personable at all anymore. It was a complete one-eighty from the way he'd been acting not even twenty minutes ago. Whatever the problem was, Courage knew that he would have to get to the bottom of it as soon as he was feeling better. What could have possibly happened these last few days to make him suddenly change like this? It couldn't just be because of him telling Nina about his past? Sure, he was clearly feeling pretty down about it, but this? Was it because he had thought that his dear friend wasn't going to make it? If that were the case, he should be more than just a little happy now. What the heck was going on?

"Is everything alright?" He asked the machine, letting his concern be known.

"Why are you asking?"

"You just seem a bit-" He trailed off.

"Sleep deprived?" He asked, a small smile falling across his face. Suddenly, just like that, he was being personable again. Courage was finding himself more and more confused by the second.

The machine raised his arms up into the air and stretched. "I haven't gotten much sleep lately because of all the same reasons as usual. You being on the brink of death didn't exactly help either."

"And I bet you're planning on staying up now because I'm going to bed."

"I see you're catching on."

"Go to bed! I don't care if we share another dream!"

"Even if it were to involve dying in another painfully realistic fashion, just like last time?"

He shuddered at that reminder. "Yes, even if it came to that!"

Computer let out a huff, clearly annoyed by his friend's refusal to let the issue go. "Don't worry about me, Courage. I'll stay up for a few more hours and as soon as you've woken up again, then I'll get some rest."

Courage opened his mouth to argue against him but then thought better of it. "I guess I can't fight you on this, can I? I'm too tired to stay awake and I can't make you go to bed either."

The machine gave him a smug smile. "That's quite true! It looks like I've won this round! Too bad for you!"

Courage leaned back until his his head hit the pillow. "You're always worrying about my well-being but you never worry about your own. Terrible nightmares that feel like the real thing and cause things come to life in the real world aren't exactly something that you're supposed to ignore. Speaking of which, how have your nightmares been lately? You haven't been exploding into molten metal again, have you?"

His friend did not give him an answer.

"Compute?" He asked, raising his head back up.

"Sorry, Courage." He finally said, giving him a sympathetic smile. "I'm not going to bother you with my own problems anymore. They _are_ just a bunch of stupid nightmares after all and they are certainly not worthy of discussion."

Rolling over, Courage pulled the blanket up to his neck. "You're lying, but I'll let you win this one for now."

An icy cold silence followed. He heard his friend shuffle around a bit and then there was nothing. It didn't take long for him to fall into a deep slumber, one which thankfully didn't last for days on end. When he awoke, the sun was shining in through the single window in that room. He was immediately assaulted by the gaping hole in his stomach that was demanding food.

"Compute?" He called out, hoping that his friend was still around to help him. His appetite currently could have been compared to that of a bear who had just come out of hibernation. "Are you still there?" He asked.

End Of Chapter


	117. Just A Mistake

Chapter 117: Just A Mistake

"Hello?" Courage called out again, hoping that someone would answer.

So, he really was alone.

"I guess Computer left." He mused, ignoring the grumbling in his stomach that was getting worse by the second. "He couldn't have picked a worse time! I'm going to faint from hunger at this rate!"

He placed a paw up against his stomach, hoping to quell the aching. He was still very tired and lacked any sort of energy, even after the rest he had just gotten. If he tried to walk, he knew that he wouldn't make it very far. His stupid sickness just wasn't going to give him a break.

"Oooh, this is bad! I'm going to starve!" He whimpered. "Where is everybody?"

A soft snort caught his attention. He perked his ears up in an attempt to figure out where the sound had come from and crawled closer to the side of the bed to get a better look.

"Huh?" He asked, leaning forward. He very nearly burst into tears from the laughter that followed.

Curled up on the floor, right beside the bed, lay Computer, who was currently fast asleep. Not even Courage's overly loud laughter had woken him.

"Ha! You didn't make it either!" He chortled. "I won after all!"

It was only then when the glowing dog's eyes opened. He stared up at Courage, clearly confused, and then in a moment of clarity, scrambled back up onto his feet in a rush. His eyes jumped from one thing in the room to another and then back onto Courage.

"You didn't make it!" The pup sang in victory. As happy as he was to know that his friend had actually gotten some sleep, he couldn't help but rub it in his face. He knew that Computer would be doing the same right now if their places had been switched.

The machine glanced around again. "When did I-" He weakly trailed off. Wincing, he placed a paw up against the back of his head. "Great, I must have rolled off the bed..."

This only drew out even more laughter from Courage. The glowing dog's expression remained solemn despite his friend's joviality.

"Wait! I-I haven't been keeping an eye on you!" He gasped out in horrified realization. "D-do you need anything?" He asked. That same thinly hidden veil of desperation was showing again. "I swear I wasn't trying to ignore you or anything stupid like that! I don't even remember falling asleep! I just-"

"Food! I need food! Can't you see that I'm wasting away over here?" Courage laughed, interrupting him.

To say that he looked completely disheartened would have been an understatement. "Y-you are?" He asked. "Wait, you don't mean that literally, do you? Surely you're not really-"

"Look at me! I'm all skin and bones!" He replied, grabbing the skin on his stomach and stretching it out. "You slept so long that I nearly starved to death!" He joked.

Sadly, it seemed that Computer was taking his word as the truth. He looked utterly aghast. "I'll go get you something then! Don't worry! It'll only take me a moment!"

He turned around as fast as he could and rushed over to the door. Courage could hear him muttering under his breath the whole way.

"Drat! How could I mess this up too? All I had to do was stay awake! He'll never..." And then his voice faded away.

Courage fell backwards onto the pillow, groaning in discontent. With that momentary distraction out of the way, there was nothing to take his mind off the pain radiating from his gut. He seriously hoped that Computer wouldn't take his mischievous prodding the wrong way. It was always fun to goad him whenever he was being particularly neurotic, but given how serious he was about his 'job' of being a decent friend, sometimes he got pretty strange about it. It seemed that no matter how many times Courage tried to tell him, he couldn't see himself as the 'proper' friend that he was trying to be.

"I don't care what he brings, I just need _something_." He groaned, placing a paw up against his stomach in yet another attempt to quell the painful rumblings. "He can give me as much food poisoning as he likes just so long as it's eatable!"

Not even five minutes later, Computer was back. He rushed into the room, clearly out of breath and holding a storage container in his paws.

"I found this in the back of the fridge!" He exclaimed. "I warmed it up a bit so it shouldn't be cold."

He reached up and handed the container to Courage before climbing up onto the bed himself. He was clearly pleased with his work because he no longer held that crushing air of disappointment.

"I can't wait to eat!" Courage cried out, working to pry the lid off. "Five days without food is..." His voice slowed to a halt upon removing the cover.

"Is something wrong?" Computer asked, noticing his dismayed expression.

"It's...moldy." He announced.

The smell that assaulted his nose almost left him wrenching with disgust. The thick green and yellow nastiness had grown so thick that it was crawling up the sides of the container. Whatever the food might have been, it certainly wasn't eatable now.

Computer hung his head and let out a defeated sigh. "Of _course_ it is."

Courage felt so bad for him that he quickly began to search for a way to rectify the situation. "Maybe I could..."

He reached down to try and sweep some of the mold away in hopes that maybe there was some real food still left under it, but he only made it about halfway before gagging and withdrawing his paws.

"No, no, don't!" Computer quickly yelled, snatching the container away from him. "I don't want you getting sick on my account! Look, I'll go get Nina. She can cook you up something that won't kill you."

Courage reluctantly nodded. "Alright..."

As much as it hurt to have to admit it to himself, he felt a lot safer accepting food from Nina than he did from Computer. This had to be at least the millionth time his friend had almost fed him something disgusting.

"Didn't you notice all that mold?" He asked, giving the machine a quizzical stare. He didn't want to sound like he was accusing him of anything, but it came off sounding that way regardless.

"Oh, I, uh-" He stammered out, nervously rubbing his paws together. His eyes darted around for a moment before falling back onto Courage again. "Well, I just figured that it was supposed to be something..." He paused for a moment as he tried to find the right word. "...exotic?"

"...But it doesn't even smell good..." Courage replied, raising an eyebrow.

Computer hung his head again, utterly defeated. "S-sorry, there's just not that much left in the fridge. I was so eager to prove that I could do this right without making you sick that I got...overzealous. I should have figured that a bunch of green mushy stuff wasn't something that you'd want to eat."

Courage smiled. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that you didn't eat it instead, thinking that it was something," He snickered. "_exotic_."

The machine's gloomy attitude did not lighten up at all.

"Hey, don't feel bad, okay?" He assured him, placing a paw onto his shoulder. "It's not your fault. You've never even seen mold before, have you?"

"If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that there something was wrong with it." He argued. His tone was incredibly scathing and self-accusatory.

"I'm not angry with you, just hungry. I promise that you haven't become a terrible friend yet. I just wish you'd hurry up and go get Nina before I starve to death."

"R-right!" He agreed, seemingly eager to have an excuse to get away. "I'll see to it that she makes you the best breakfast possible!"

He toppled off the bed and made a beeline for the door, only stopping short to give Courage one last message. "Oh, and a fair warning. If you think that I've been worrying about you, wait until she comes into the picture. I guarantee you right now that your reunion is going to be...loud."

Courage chuckled. "Sorry! I didn't mean to make you both worry about me so much!"

"It can't be helped." He sighed. "Maybe now she'll focus on you instead of acting like a bomb is about to go off every time I walk into a room."

And with that, he left. Not even five minutes passed before a quick succession of _thump, thump, thumps _caught Courage's attention, and before he even knew it, he was being smothered. If someone had told him that Nina had broken the sound barrier to get to him faster, he would have believed it.

"Courage!" She exclaimed. "You're alright!" She twirled him around and around before nearly crushing him again in another hug. "I was so worried! It looked like you weren't going to make it!"

"Thanks, Nina." He choked out. "But can you please stop squeezing me? I can't breathe."

"Oh! Sorry!" She laughed, plopping him back down onto the bed.

Free from her grasp, he caught a glimpse of Computer standing near the door, still looking just about as grim as ever.

"So, I hear that you need something to eat." She spoke.

"Yeah, I'm starving!" He agreed. His tail began to wag involuntary.

"Well, I could make you some soup." She suggested, placing a finger to her chin.

"That's sounds great!"

"Good! It's the perfect kind of thing to eat when you're sick! Give me about an hour and I can have it done."

He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it that long, but he agreed to it anyway. The thought of having some hot soup sitting in his empty chasm of a stomach was too good to pass up.

"Alright! I'll be back!"

As Nina left the room, Computer turned to leave as well. Surprised, Courage called out to him,

"Compute? Where are you going?"

"Oh, uh," He replied, turning back around. A nervous smile fell across his face. "Well, Nina's here to take care of you now, so I'm just-" He trailed off, unsure of how to finish his sentence. There was a surprising amount of sympathy in his body language alone, as though he were wordlessly trying to apologize for something.

"Hey, promise me you'll go get something to eat too?" Courage asked him. "You're not looking so great yourself."

The glowing dog really did seem a lot more haggard than usual. If it were from the lack of sleep or all the worrying he had been doing the last few days, it was impossible to tell. He just seemed...depressed, and it was seriously starting to bother Courage. One tiny screw up shouldn't have affected his friend this badly.

"Of course." He answered. Even now his tone was listless.

"...Is everything alright?" Courage asked just as he was turning around to leave again. He knew that he had asked the same question last night, but he hoped that maybe he could get a better answer out of his friend this time. Surely it wasn't just sleepiness that was causing him to act like this.

"Yes, everything is fine." He answered, not even bothering to turn back around. "I'll be going now. I don't want to trouble you any longer."

Courage watched as he vanished into the hallway. Something _was _without a doubt wrong with his friend, but he couldn't figure out what. Even before he had gone and passed out for days on end, he had still noticed a few small changes in the machine's demeanor beforehand. Whatever was going on, it had gotten worse while he was knocked out. Computer's obsession with being a decent friend was one thing, but this was clearly eating away at him.

"Ooooh, I'll just have to worry about it after I get something to eat." He groaned, falling backwards onto the bed. "This is going to be the longest hour of my entire life!"

End Of Chapter


	118. Chess

Chapter 118: Chess

One bowl of soup hadn't been enough to satisfy Courage's ravenous appetite. It was only after Nina had brought him five extra helpings did he finally fill his stomach up. Close to bursting, he leaned back and let out a content sigh. He was warm, happy and full. For the first time since waking up, he didn't feel deathly tired.

"I'm guessing you're finally done?" Nina asked. "Geez, I know you haven't eaten in over five days, but where the heck did you find room for all of that? It must be a dog thing because a certain someone else we both know is exactly the same way."

Having been reminded of Computer, Courage was pulled out of his tranquil state. Sitting back up, he asked, "Has Computer been acting strangely to you? It seems like he hasn't really been himself ever since I woke up."

She rubbed her chin. "Come to think of it, he _has _been acting awfully depressed lately, but I thought it was just because he's been worrying about you. Now that you're finally awake and feeling better, he shouldn't have any reason to be feeling down anymore. I mean, having your best friend sit half dead for five days would depress anyone, but everything's fine now."

"Yeah..." He wistfully agreed. "I just wish that I could get a straight answer out of him."

"Well, I need to head back downstairs." She replied. "It's almost time for me to switch shifts with dad. If you like, I can pester Computer a bit until he finally gives up and tells me what's wrong with him." She grinned.

Courage shook his head. "No, let him be. Maybe he really _is _just tired. If he doesn't start acting like himself again soon, then we can pester him about it."

"I don't know, it's kinda weird not having him be his grumpy, old self all the time."

"It's just so strange." Courage mused. "One moment he'll be like normal, the next he's-" His voice drifted off.

"I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it eventually." Nina laughed. She stood up and stretched out before heading over to the door. "Oh, and Courage?" She spoke, briefly turning back around.

"Yeah?"

"It's great to have you back." She said in a gentle voice. "After the fourth day, we were ready to give up on you. I was pretty much convinced that you weren't ever going to wake back up again."

His ears drooped. "I-I'm sorry. It's really awful knowing how much I scared the both of you. This stupid illness of mine is always making everybody worry. It's bad enough that Muriel had to go through what she did when she found out I was sick, but now I have two new friends who have to worry about me dropping dead all the time too!"

"Look on the bright side, soon enough you won't even be sick anymore. Computer's going to make sure that you live, I'm certain of it."

"We may never find that wellspring though." He whimpered.

"He's too determined to let you die. Even if you don't find that wellspring, I'm sure he'll find another way to cure you." She nodded at him with a soft smile. "I don't know if you know, but he almost never left your side the entire time you were knocked out. I had to drag him away a few times just to make sure that he'd eat."

Courage blinked. "Really? _He_ told me that the only reason he was in the room was to get away from you for a little while."

The ferret girl threw back her head in laughter. "Hahaha! Of _course _he did! He would have been too embarrassed to admit that he stayed with you the whole time!"

Courage couldn't help but chuckle too. "That's Computer, huh?"

"A stuffy jerk, but a loyal stuffy jerk nonetheless!" She laughed. "Speaking of which, I wonder where he went? I haven't seen him since he was last in here with us."

A twinge of worry twisted up in Courage's gut. "Can you make sure that he's alright? I wish I wasn't so weak right now or else I'd go look for him myself."

"I bet he's around. I probably just missed him." She replied with a shrug.

"Y-yeah." He agreed. "I'm worried about him though, that's all."

"He worries about you, you worry about him. It's the circle of life!" She joked. "Look, I'll have him come up here as soon as I find him."

"He'll probably want to keep an eye on me anyway. My illness could act up again, especially when I'm so weak, and I know he'd never forgive himself if he wasn't there to help me again."

"Well then, I'm sure he won't stay hidden for long with that kind of motivation!" She replied. "Take it easy while I'm gone, okay? Computer's not the only one who doesn't want you to cease up!"

…...

Upon Nina's departure, Courage was quickly finding the room to be unnervingly quiet. He was so high up in the building that not even the sounds that normally could be heard downstairs were reaching him. It didn't take long for him to get sleepy because of the silence, and despite his worry for Computer, before he even knew it, he was dozing off. The only thing that woke him was a small commotion coming from outside his door.

"Hmm?" He murmured, opening his eyes.

He could hear muffled whispering from behind the door. It took him several moments to realize that what he was hearing was Nina and Computer talking.

"Go keep him company!" He heard Nina sharply say.

"You should stay with him instead." Computer replied. "You're far better at taking care of him."

"I can't! I need to switch places with dad!" She argued. "I don't get you! Not even a day ago you were convinced that you'd never see him again, but now you suddenly don't want to go anywhere near him?"

"Listen, you're a much better friend to him than I could ever hope to be. I'm sure he'd much rather have you around to keep him company than me."

"Well, here's your chance to practice at being a better friend! Stop making excuses and get in there!"

The door was wrenched open and Computer was pushed in. Before he could even turn around, the ferret girl slammed the door behind him. Looking even more mortified than ever, he let out a long, exhausted sigh and allowed his ears to droop.

"Hey there!" Courage called out to him. He was trying to put on an air of happiness despite his worry. He hoped that he could at least make Computer feel at ease.

"Is everything going alright, Courage?" He asked in reply. Every word he spoke was dripping with hesitation. "It appears that you're not starving to death anymore at least. I guess that's one good thing."

"I'm doing great!" He replied, giving his friend a smile. "Nina said that you wanted to come check on me so I was starting to wonder what was taking so long."

He knew that what he was saying wasn't exactly the truth...

Computer crossed his arms. "Did she now?"

"Well, what are we going to do to pass the time now that you're here?"

"I-I don't know. What do you want to do?"

He placed a paw to his chin. "Hmmm, I guess there isn't a whole lot that I can do right now, huh?"

He was hoping that maybe through spending some time with Computer, he could find a way to bridge the strange distance that had fallen between them. As soon as his friend were acting more like himself again, he'd try to finally get an answer out of him. Right now their interactions were awkward and clearly fake, nothing like the way things had been before. There was no closeness between them, except for Courage's desperate attempts to be friendly.

"Well," Computer went on. "I suppose I could-" He hesitated and rubbed the back of his head. "-look around and see if-" Another moment of hesitation. "-I could find something to keep you occupied."

"Occupied? You sound like you're babysitting a little kid." He laughed.

Computer hung his head. "It certainly feels that way sometimes." He listlessly replied. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he jumped back to attention. "F-forget I said that! What I really mean to say is, ah-"

He apparently couldn't come up with a better way to phrase it. He spent several minutes erring before finally giving up.

"Sorry, Courage." He muttered, hanging his head again.

"For what?" He asked, hoping to make it seem like he hadn't noticed his friend's quip.

The machine raised his head again in surprise. He opened his mouth to answer but then thought better of it.

"There's some boxes on the other side of this bed. You could look through them and see if there's something interesting in them."

"A-alright, if that's what you want me to do." He answered with a considerable amount of uncertainty. "Are you sure about this? Wouldn't you rather rest?"

"Trust me, after five days of sleeping, I think I can stay awake for a little while."

"If you insist." Computer sighed, walking forward. "I doubt we'll find anything more than junk however."

Courage settled himself back down under the covers while Compute went over to the boxes. His mind was racing a mile a minute. He had to find a way to cheer his friend up. If he could just get him to start acting like his old self again...

"Compute?" He called out, rolling over to face him.

"Yes, dog?" The machine asked. He was nearly muzzle deep in a box at that particular moment.

"You haven't been yourself lately, you know that?" He said, finally cutting to the chase.

Computer withdrew from the box and turned to him. "I told you already, I haven't been getting much sleep. I can't exactly help it if I'm not on my A-game."

Courage shook his head. "No, it's worse than that. You're acting like, I-I don't know, like you're nervous all the time. You just seem really unhappy and I want to help."

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't see what you're getting at. I feel fine, and I'm certainly not unhappy."

"Compute, you're not fooling anyone. I know something's wrong and I know that you're trying to hide it."

The machine dismissed him with a wave of his paw. "Bah! Now you're turning into an amateur psychologist as well! Both _you _and Nina need to get off my back! You're seeing something that _isn't_ there!"

Courage relented with a sigh. He wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing with him. Well, at the very least he _was_ willing to argue with him again. That could be seen as an improvement.

"Ah, now this might keep you entertained!" Computer exclaimed. He pulled out a small, wooden box and brought it over to the bed.

"What is it?" Courage asked as he climbed up.

"A chess set!"

"Chess? But I don't even know how to play chess, and we both know that you're going to win anyway."

"Don't worry! I'll just have to dumb myself down to your level!" He placed a paw to his chest with a smile. "I shall consider it a challenge! It'll be much harder to play so badly that I lose to you than to school you in an instant!"

Courage stared. "...It won't be any fun if you intentionally lose either."

"Just pretend that you're playing a game and that you switched it over to easy mode!"

He gazed down at the box. "I don't know..." He reluctantly replied.

"Work with me, dog!"

"Okay, okay! Just don't get all annoyed when you realize that I'm not good at the game!"

Computer quickly set up the board. He was once again looking immensely pleased with himself, and, much to Courage's relief, that constant air of gloom and doom had left him. He placed those weird looking pieces onto the board and then looked up at him expectantly. Unsure of what to do, he grabbed a black piece, one which looked like a horse, and placed it in a random position on the board.

Computer's mouth fell open, as though he had just witnessed something too stunningly stupid to comment on.

"Well," He spoke, straightening up. "I'm just going to pretend that _wasn't _an illegal move and-"

He took a white piece and placed it on the board. Courage was left stumped by whatever strategic value that move might have had. It wasn't like he had any idea of what any of this was supposed to mean after all.

"Here goes nothing..." He muttered under his breath. Grabbing another piece, he moved to place it on the board.

"Ah-" Computer began, raising a finger. He was apparently going to make a suggestion but then decided against it at the last moment. To say that he looked bothered would have been an understatement. Actually, it looked more like he were fighting back an outburst of disapproval.

Left without any help, Courage set the piece down in a random spot.

Computer slapped his forehead...

"What?" He asked, glaring up at the glowing dog.

"You are unimaginably, ungodly, unthinkably _bad _at this." He hissed out between grit teeth. His face had gone all but red. "I figured you'd be terrible, but this? This I can barely comprehend!"

Courage couldn't help but laugh at his friend's face. "Er, maybe we should stop. You look like you're about to either have an aneurism or blow a circuit."

"Of _course_!" He snapped, crossing his arms and angrily looking away. "We may as well stop because we obviously can't even play a damn game without turning it into a circus of stupidity! Silly me thinking that maybe we could do something normal for a change!"

The smile faded from Courage's lips. Computer really did seem angry about this, which was something that he hadn't expected.

"Compute," He gently spoke. "Why don't you teach me how to play chess first? You can't just throw me into a match and expect me not to be bad at it."

The glowing dog stuck his nose up into the air. "I bet if I tried, you would say that I'm an awful teacher anyway!"

"Uh, hello? Who's the one who taught me how to read, write, and talk?"

"And guess who's terrible at all three of those things?"

"That's only because you gave up on me halfway through! Rather than keep trying to help me improve, you decided to just start making fun of me every time I screwed up instead!"

"I was making fun of you long before that, dog. Well, if you really want me to, I suppose I can try to teach you how to play chess." He let out a huff. "But it won't be my fault if you're still bad at it afterwords!"

"You want to do something 'normal' for a change? Well, here's a great place to start!" He took one of the black pieces sitting on the board and shoved it into his paws. "Teach me."

The machine blinked. He was clearly shocked.

"Well, for starters, black never goes first..."

End Of Chapter


	119. The Downward Spiral

Chapter 115: The Downward Spiral

Despite finally having the basics down on how to play chess, Courage was beaten four times in a row before finally giving up.

"What happened to this being easy mode, huh?" He drolly asked.

Computer chuckled. "I thought you said that it wouldn't be any fun if I intentionally let you win? You _are _challenging one of the best, after all!"

"I never even stood a chance." He grumbled.

"You'll just have to get better at it!" He sang.

"Now you're just trying to get me to play again so that you can stroke your ego a few more times! I don't see how you get any enjoyment out of schooling a newbie over and over again!"

The machine's mouth fell open. "H-Huh? I wasn't-"

There it was again, that air of gloom and doom. His ears drooped and he hung his head.

"Sorry, Courage."

A knot twisted up in his stomach. "W-well, maybe you could teach me a few more strategies instead. So what if I can't beat you? I bet most people couldn't either."

He was left thoroughly dismayed by his own actions. He'd gotten Computer back to normal for a little while but just _had _to go and say something stupid, ruining it all. It took a lot of effort for him to resist the urge to pound his head up against the wall in frustration. How on earth was he going to cheer his friend up now?

"I'd rather not." Computer sighed. "Chess is just a stupid waste of time anyway. I never even really liked playing it to begin with."

"Compute..." He whined out.

"It must be nearly suppertime by now." The machine went on, glancing over at the window.

The sun was indeed going down outside. Courage was surprised at how much time had passed. It still felt like morning to him. Perhaps sleeping for five days straight was enough to throw your sense of time off?

"I'll go get Nina." Computer continued. He was inching closer and closer to the side of the bed. "She can take care of you for the rest of the night. Plus, I'm sure that she'll make you dinner if you ask her nicely enough."

Courage's ears drooped as he became even more dismayed. "But what about you?"

The glowing dog let out a nervous laugh. "I think I'm going to try and get a nap in. Teaching you how to play chess almost bored me to sleep!"

A weak smile fell across his face at his friend's quip. "Alright, you probably should get some rest then. Not being a jerk is hard work, huh?"

What was meant to be a joke apparently came off as the truth to the machine. His expression turned grave again.

"Sorry, Courage." He said for what seemed to be the millionth time.

Unsure of what to do or how to react, Courage could only sit there and watch as his friend slid off the bed and left the room. Letting out a weak whimper, he flung himself backwards onto the pillow.

"Why am I such an idiot?" He groaned.

Around thirty or so minutes later, Nina came walking into the room. She had a plate of food in one hand, and Computer by the scruff of his neck in the other. The glowing dog was looking thoroughly annoyed with her. His arms were crossed and a deep frown had fallen across his face. He must not have wanted to come back but she had forced him to anyway.

"I brought you something to eat!" She exclaimed, walking over to him. She placed the plate in his lap and set Computer down onto the bed.

"It looks great! Thanks, Nina!" He spoke, grabbing a fork that was waiting for him. "Did something happen?" He asked, glancing over at Computer, who still had his arms crossed and nose sticking up in the air.

"He's just being a grump!" She sighed with a roll of her eyes. "I've 'convinced' him to stay up here with you for the rest of the night though."

Courage laughed. "I guess we're having a sleepover, huh?"

Computer made a sound in his throat and turned away.

"Oh, will you knock it off!" Nina finally yelled. "Do you _always_ have to turn everything into an issue? Oh, no! You have to watch over Courage! You know, that thing you've been doing for five days now? It's just so terrible!"

The machine winced. "Sorry, Nina..."

"Don't just say sorry! Stop acting like it's going to kill you! Nobody likes having a grumpy jerk around all the time!"

The utterly dejected look on his face spoke all the words that needed to be said.

"Nina," Courage quickly tried to interject.

"Don't, Courage!" She snapped.

"Stop trying to bite his head off! Leave him alone!"

"Ugh! Not you too! Aren't you sick of him always-"

"Both of you, knock it off!" Computer finally yelled. "I'm so tired of _always_ being the reason why everyone is fighting! I can't speak without inciting some kind of argument, but now I can't even be in the same room without it happening as well?" He shook his head. "It's always one argument after another! I can't stand it anymore!"

Both dog and ferret stared, stunned by their friend's outburst.

"Fine, I'll back off." Nina sighed. "Forget what I said, Compute."

"No, you're right." He replied, his expression filling with sympathy. "I _do_ always turn everything into an issue. I'm sorry, Nina."

Both friends stared again, still stunned.

"Yeeah, you're seriously starting to freak me out." She muttered. "Why are you being so apologetic all of a sudden?"

"Look, I'm going to stay up here with Courage like you want. You can leave any time now." He answered, completely dodging the question.

"Whatever." The frustrated ferret girl replied with a flick of her wrist. "You know what? I think I like you better when you're being an unbearable grump."

She stomped back over to the door and slammed it shut upon leaving. A long, painful silence fell over the room's two remaining occupants.

"Sorry, Courage." Computer muttered out yet again, glancing downwards. "So, I guess we need to find something else for you to do now."

"Compute, maybe you should go too." Courage finally said with a heavy sigh.

The truth was that he couldn't take this anymore. Dealing with the way Computer was acting now was just too...draining. Not even his illness was making him feel so exhausted. He had tried and tried to help him, but it just wasn't working. Whatever was making him act so different, he wasn't going to figure it out like this. If anything, he was starting to feel just as depressed as his friend.

The glowing dog's mouth fell open. "W-what? But, I-"

"Don't take it the wrong way!" He quickly amended. "Look, we've practically been glued together ever since we started this journey. I think I'd like to spend just one night by myself. You're not always the easiest person to get along with, not that that's a bad thing, but-"

Computer had gone very rigid. "No, no! I completely understand!" He agreed with a nervous laugh. "But what if your condition worsens while nobody is around? You aren't even well enough to walk on your own yet."

"I'm never going to be well until this illness is gone for good. There isn't going to be a day where you and Nina don't feel like you need to watch over me." Trying to lighten the mood, he smiled. "I don't want you hovering over me twenty-four seven like you've suddenly become my mom."

"Well, if that's what you really want..." Computer muttered. He gripped his paws together and glanced downward again. "I can't recommend it though."

"I'll be fine!" He laughed. "It's just for one night and now you've got some time to yourself as well!"

"I've already had five days to myself, and it wasn't exactly pleasant!"

"Not really. You were with me the whole time."

"Bah! You talk as though I've got somewhere else to be!"

"Please, Compute?" He begged. "Just promise me that," He met the glowing dog's eyes. "you'll take this time to sort out whatever problems you're having. You won't let me help, so..." He trailed off.

"There is no problem." He muttered, turning to slide down the bed.

"Compute?" He called out. "Please cheer up, okay?" He smiled down at his friend. "Nina's right, we both like you better when you're being a grump."

Computer disapprovingly shook his head and turned towards the door. Without another word, he was gone.

Courage's ears drooped. This was a terrible decision to make, he knew it, but he couldn't bear the thought of spending even another hour with Computer. How could he possibly deal with this when every word he spoke felt like he were walking on egg shells? One badly worded sentence was enough to get his friend acting like the world was about to end. There was only so much even he could take. As easily as he could handle Computer's stuffy, intolerant attitude, this was something that he could not endure.

He grabbed the blanket and pulled it closer. It wasn't like he had anything to do but sleep now. The sun had already fallen over the horizon and only the lightest of blue could be seen out the window. Well, he was feeling pretty tired either way, and all this strangeness was just leaving him depressed.

Flopping backwards, he sighed and rolled over. He let the exhaustion wash over his body. It always felt good to just let his illness take its course, rather than fight it every step of the way. He felt light and at ease, almost lethargic. Sometimes he could almost believe that his heart would simply stop and that would be the end of him. There wouldn't be one last agonizing attack, just a quick and almost unnoticeable death. He was often so tired that he couldn't imagine how his body kept chugging along anyway. To think, he'd been feeling so much better lately, only to have it all come crashing down at the last moment.

Letting out another sigh, he closed his eyes and let the exhaustion take him. Soon enough he was carried into a deep sleep...

…...

Computer wandered back and forth, a paw on his chin. He was so embroiled in thought that he hadn't even noticed two hours had passed since Courage had first 'kicked' him out. He was troubled and no amount of pacing was ever going to make him feel any better about it.

"Where did I go wrong?" He quietly asked himself. "How on earth can I still be such a bad friend that he doesn't want me around?"

He stopped his continuous pacing for a moment. "It was the chess, wasn't it? Bah! I knew I should have let him win!" He shook his head. "Of course, then he would have been angry with me for intentionally losing. Why must flesh creatures always be so finicky? They're always so confusing."

Fighting back a sigh, he decided to head down to the lobby and get some coffee. He wasn't exactly ready for bed yet and his mind was still far too preoccupied to allow himself to rest easy.

The entire building seemed unusually silent as he walked down the hallway and over to the stairs. He couldn't help but feel like something was eerily off, and yet he could not pinpoint what it was exactly. Between the near dead silence and the lack of anyone around, he felt like he were about to walk right into the scene of a horror movie.

"Now is not the time to get paranoid." He chided himself.

Regardless, he was looking forward to seeing Nina's dad. Anything to break the silence. He didn't care if the ferret wouldn't strike up a conversation with him, he just didn't want to be...

"Bah! What am I getting so freaked out about?" He asked himself. "There's absolutely nothing wrong! It's not like this building is scary or anything!"

He reached the bottom of the steps and entered the kitchen. The window that was sitting above the sink displayed complete darkness. Not even the moon or stars could be seen. Was it going to rain or something? Oh, well. It didn't really matter either way, just so long as he didn't have to get wet.

"Actually, it's almost as dark as that night when we were in the-" He stopped himself halfway through that sentence and pushed the thought away. "No, no. Of course it isn't. There would be a lot of lightning and-" He stopped himself again and shook his head. Somethings were better left not being thought about.

He made his way into the lobby and was dismayed to find that Nina's dad wasn't there. This hadn't been the first time that he had abandoned his post for a little while though. Perhaps he had simply gone to the bathroom.

Walking past the desk, Computer was once again shocked to see how dark it was through the lobby windows. The lights over the parking lot made their own little circles of light, but aside from that, it was pitch black out there. You couldn't even see the building on the other side.

"We must be in for one heck of a storm." He mused, getting closer to the windows.

Was this really normal? He didn't exactly have a frame of reference. He'd been through, what, two storms since he'd taken up a dog body?

Curious, he opened the door and peaked his head outside. He was once again left in awe by just how silent it was. Nowhere was already a very quite place, but this was just insane. It was as if time itself had stopped and everything was now suspended in complete silence. Surely this was a normal phenomenon? Nina's dad would have noticed if something was wrong, right?

He reached for his ability and 'felt' the building on the other side of the parking lot. That at least confirmed it hadn't been sucked into an endless abyss of doom. He didn't dare consider going out there himself though. This just didn't feel right to him, no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, and he wasn't going to risk it either way. Perhaps he'd ask Nina's dad about this strange event when he returned.

He shut the door, unwilling to stare into that black void any longer, and went over to the table that held the food and coffee pot. His heart plummeted when he got there however.

"What? Aww, come on!" He exclaimed, staring up at the coffee pot.

It was empty.

Nina's dad would surely know how to make more? Of all the things that Computer _hadn't _learned how to do as a flesh creature, why did it have to be making coffee? It was easily one of the most useful skills he could have!

"Whatever." He sighed. "I guess I may as well go to bed. I don't feel like waiting around for Nina's dad anyway, wherever he is."

The truth was that he was starting to feel particularly paranoid. That gaping void outside was seriously starting to unnerve him. He really didn't want to stay where there were so many windows. _Anything _could be looking in on him deep within that darkness.

"Ugh! I need to stop being so worried all the time!" He exasperated. "All this stress can't be good for my health! Besides, I'm sure this is normal. Just because I've never seen it before doesn't mean it must be unusual!"

He headed back into the kitchen and then up the staircase. He'd go to sleep in his usual place next to Nina's bed and would wake up tomorrow to a nice, sunny morning. Maybe if he were unlucky he would be woken up by a thunderstorm in a few hours, but that was it. Everything would be perfectly fine!

He stopped at Nina's door and reached up to grab the handle. He blinked with surprise when he found that it was locked.

Strange, why would Nina lock her door?

"Hello?" He called, rapping his knuckles on the cold wood. "Can you let me in? Courage, er, kicked me out. Apparently I'm turning into his mommy."

No answer.

He knocked on the door even harder. "Nina?" He asked. "Come on, kid! I know you're a deep sleeper but this is ridiculous!"

Nothing...

"Fine!" He snapped, whipping around. "If you're going to sleep like a rock then it's not my problem! Why'd you have to lock your door anyway? Stupid child!"

He stomped off, absolutely fuming. Of all the times she had to lock her door, why did it have to be now? Where was he going to sleep?

"I guess I'll just have to find a blanket or something." He grumbled. "I'm sure that there are at least ten billion stashed away in every one of these rooms. Why does that brat and her father have to be a bunch of hoarders?"

He stopped himself in his tracks. "What am I saying?" He asked himself with surprise. "This is the exact sort of friendshipy nonsense that I'm supposed to be mindful of! There's no reason to be so spiteful towards them. They're nice enough people and I-"

He glanced around, half expecting to find Nina's dad standing there. The last thing he needed right now was somebody hearing what he had said. Nina would chew him out for it and Courage, well, Courage would be...himself. He certainly didn't want to disappoint the dog further and talking like that would certainly make him so.

"They're the nice ones, I'm not." He sighed. "I've never done anything good for either of them and I _must _find a way to fix that. I really wish they wouldn't say I'm their friend, because I'm not. A real friend would never treat them the way I do. Why they keep putting up with me, I will-"

His voice slowed to a halt. Something was wrong. Something was terribly, awfully wrong...

Fear rose up in his chest. He could sense something behind him an he really didn't want to turn around and find out what.

"N-Nina?" He called, clenching his paws together. Had she finally woken up? No, she would never be that quiet if she was...

Fighting back his growing panic, he slowly turned around. If he was about to be eaten by a monster, he figured that he'd rather go out showing a bit of courage.

Thankfully, there wasn't really anything behind him, much to his relief, but he could only watch with surprise as a shadow quickly turned into a room down the hall.

He went after it without a second thought. Whatever it was, he was going to get to the bottom of it, regardless of the danger.

"It can't be my body, can it?" He whispered to himself. "It should still be in Nina's room, but if her door is locked..." He let out an annoyed sigh. "Here we go again..."

He turned into the room where the shadow had gone. "Alright, faker. Are we really going to do this again? Can't you just-"

A shadow rose up from behind a wall of boxes, nearly encompassing the whole room as it grew bigger and bigger. With a low groan, the window across the room snapped open and an icy cold gale blew in. Computer was almost knocked back into the hallway from the sheer force of it. With only one option for him to use, he grabbed the door and swung it shut. A loud cackling could be heard as he did so.

"Great..." He sighed. "It looks like we've got a new mystery on our hands. What else could be attacking?"

The door began to rumble, much to his dismay, and before he could back away from it, it shot open and he was engulfed in the shadow. It only lasted for a moment and then he was freed from it's grip. He was left absolutely chilled to the bone however. It was like the strange shadow had sucked all the warmth out of him.

Shivering, he reached over to grab the wall and steady himself. "Did I just get assaulted by the icicle box from hell? Geez, I don't think I've ever felt this cold. At least not since the fore-"

Ugh, why was he thinking about that again? He'd been trying to put it out of his mind for so long now and yet...

"I'd better get Courage." He said to himself with a nod. "He won't want to be left out of this and I _really _don't want to deal with this nonsense on my own. He may still be sick, but if I help him, he might be able to walk."

Even as he made his way over to the room where Courage was staying, he couldn't warm himself up again. His paws were like ice and his fur may as well have been frozen solid.

What on earth was that thing? A living shadow that sucked the heat out of you?

He reached Courage's room and opened the door. The pup was thankfully unharmed and still fast asleep in his bed. He walked forward and grabbed the bottom of the covers, gently shaking them to get the dog's attention.

"Courage?" He called. "Listen, there's something strange going on and I need your help. Something happened to me and I-"

The dog let out a groan and turned over under the covers.

"Courage?" He asked again, blinking up at the mass of blankets that was his friend. "We might be in danger. Aren't you going to-"

"Computer!" The dog finally snapped, raising his head up from the pillow. "Can't I have just one night, _one night_ where you don't wake me up over something? You only ever think about yourself, you know that? Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean you've got to keep me up every night too! I'm tired and I want to rest! Why can't you leave me alone?"

Computer backed away, his ears slowly drooping. "I-I didn't mean to keep you up. Really, I didn't. I'll just...go then. I won't wake you up again, I promise."

"You'd better not!" The dog growled, glaring down at him. "I always bend over backwards for you when you need my help, why can't you do anything nice back? All I want is some time to myself and you can't even give me that!"

"S-sorry, Courage." He choked out, backing up closer and closer to the door. He wasn't cold anymore, in fact, he was practically burning up now. How could he have been so stupid? Why was he always so bad at being a decent friend to Courage? Well, he was going to fix that now. Shadow creature be damned, he was going to put his friend first for a change.

He slunk out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Thoroughly disheartened by what had just transpired, he wandered down the hallway with his head held low.

"What do I do now?" He wondered. "I've got a shadow to beat all on my own _and _I have to find a way to make up with Courage."

A cold breeze blew down the hall from someplace unknown. Fear rising inside of him again, he picked up his pace. He would go hide with Nina in her room. Yes, that would be the best thing to do. He didn't really feel like tackling this threat on his own. It was a shame that he wouldn't be able to protect Courage though, but if the dog wasn't worried about it than perhaps it was better to just let the shadow go about its business.

He reached Nina's door and knocked. "Nina?" He called out. "Please let me in."

The ferret girl must have still been sound asleep. If he pressed his ear closer to the door, he could hear her snores. At least she hadn't been harmed by the thing lurking about.

He knocked even harder this time. "I-I don't have anywhere else to go and something strange is going on. I promise I won't make a sound if you just let me in!"

Nothing...

Now he was all but pounding his fists into the wood. "Please, Nina! I don't want to be out here all alone with that thing! Let me in!"

"Please, please let me in! Courage won't let me stay with him and that thing is going to-"

The door suddenly swung open. Nina loomed over him. She had that same enraged glint in her eyes that Courage himself had displayed back in the for-

It all happened in an instant. She swooped down and picked him. The next thing he knew was that he were pinned up against the wall. He was left staring face to face with Nina and her vicious glare. A wave of icy, cold, numbing terror nearly incapacitated him. His heart was suddenly beating so hard that he was almost certain it would cease up.

"N-Nina?" He asked, although it came out sounding a lot more like a plea.

"Why do you always have to wake me up!" She yelled, giving him a hard shake. "I let you live here and all you ever do is bother me and Courage! You eat all the food, drink all the coffee, treat me and Courage like we're garbage, _and _you're stupid body walks around on it's own and trashes this place up whenever it feels like it! Can't you at_ least_ let us sleep without bothering us?"

He was becoming painfully, horrifyingly aware of just how much bigger Nina was compared to him. Why on earth did dogs have to be so small? There was absolutely nothing he could do. He wasn't going anywhere until Nina decided to let him go. Surely his friend would-

There was a sharp crack as her paw struck his muzzle. Everything inside of him seemed to shut down upon being slapped and sheer, paralyzing fear took hold. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to turn away. Anything to escape.

"Do you hear me?" She screamed, grabbing his muzzle and forcing him to look straight into her eyes.

He tried to speak, but no words would come. His throat felt like it had swollen shut and he couldn't seem to breathe anymore. Every tiny breath he did manage to take only made him feel like he were suffocating even more.

She gripped his muzzle even harder. "Let me make this very clear. Wake me up again and I'm throwing you out. Courage can stay, but you're gone. You can sit out there and rot until he's ready to leave for all I care, but you're not stepping one more foot back inside this building. Got it?"

He managed to let out a small, "Okay."

"Good." She replied, loosening her grip on his muzzle. "And if you think I'm kidding..."

He gave her a weak nod, signaling that he understood.

The ferret girl then threw him to the floor, where he lay for a few seconds, too paralyzed to move. Guilt slowly began replacing his fear, and, raising his head, he stammered out, "S-Sorry, Nina."

He hoped beyond hope that she would understand. He was nothing but apologetic. All he wanted, more than anything, was to be a good friend to both her and Courage, but why was it so hard to do? If only he hadn't woken them up...

Nina didn't so much as glance back at him as she slammed her door shut. The whole building shook from the force of it and then that same stifling silence returned with a vengeance.

He sat there for several minutes, his mind having gone blank. It took a very long time before he could will his limbs to move again. He felt...numb, like he were freezing to death without actually being cold.

Frightened, dismayed, and hopelessly shocked by what had just happened, he stumbled forward and down the hall. He needed to get to Courage. He needed the pup's companionship and kindness. If he stayed out here any longer, he knew that his fear and paranoia would eventually get the better of him...especially after what Nina had just done. Surely Courage would understand. He always understood. Even after telling him to go away, surely he'd let him stay if the need were great enough.

He reached the dog's door and stood there, suddenly frozen again. He had a trembling paw outreached to knock on the door, but he couldn't will himself to do it. He ended up standing there for several minutes, unable to decide what he really wanted to do.

"No, no." He nervously chuckled to himself as he withdrew his paw. "T-there's no reason to wake him up. He wants his rest and I shouldn't keep him from it. I-I just..."

He slowly backed away from the door, still chuckling nervously to himself as he did so. "If I told him about what happened, h-he'd probably agree with her! He's right about me being selfish. I-I only ever think about myself!"

His back hit the wall and he slit down it, his knees seemingly having given out. "He'd just get even more angry with me. I don't want to be a bother after all! H-he's always helped me and I've been taking advantage of that. My problems are my own, and if Nina-" He couldn't finish that sentence. How on earth could he have ruined his friendship with her so easily? She was always so nice and yet he...

Drawing in a breath, he tried to calm his failing nerves. Even now he still felt like he were suffocating. His pulse hadn't slowed down either and his heart was still ready to beat right out of his chest. He couldn't help but wonder how much longer Courage wanted to stick around this place. If Nina was ready to blow up at him at any given moment, he didn't want to stay much longer. Maybe he could convince the dog to-

A low rumbling sound caught his attention. It was just like before, back when that shadow had encompassed the room. He looked up to find the lights on both sides of the hallway going out one by one. The darkness was closing in on him...

The rumbling grew louder. He could feel the floor vibrating beneath him. The shadow was gaining speed with every light bulb that was burning out. Soon the hallway would be completely dark and he'd be stuck in it. Fearful of the encroaching black, he stood up and raced over to the door. If he were quiet enough, he wouldn't wake Courage. There wasn't any other choice but to go inside, he didn't want to be engulfed by that icy cold void again.

He wrenched the door open. The low rumbling was more like a vicious earthquake now. Couldn't Courage or Nina feel that? The dark was now only two lights away from him. He had to all but dive into the room to escape it. The moment he slammed the door shut, it all just stopped. Quiet once again filled the room.

He stood there, panting, with his back up against the door. The wood became very cold for a moment but then it passed and all was normal again. He couldn't stop himself from shaking. His nerves were so frayed at this point that he was surprised that he were keeping it together. What was going on? Why did some stupid supernatural being have to show up on a night like this?

He glanced up, hoping to find Courage fast asleep in his bed. He nearly jumped out of skin when he instead found the dog standing only a few steps away from him. He looked so angry. A soft growl could be heard coming from his throat and his glare was utterly vicious.

A wave of nausea rolled through Computer as his fear hit its peak again. He sunk to the floor, unsure of what to say to his friend. He knew that he shouldn't have come into the room, but there hadn't been any other choice. That shadow would have gotten him and who knew what it was planning to do.

"D-don't look at me like that!" He said, trying to laugh the dog's anger off. This _was_ Courage after all, even if he _was_ angry. The dog couldn't possibly stay mad at him forever, he was just too nice. Surely there was a way to get back onto the pup's good-

He blinked as he felt a cold drop of water land on his muzzle, temporarily breaking his train of thought. Water? Where was that coming from? They weren't outsi-

A terrified gasp got caught in his throat. In an unseen instant, the room was gone. A bitterly cold wind ruffled his fur and then the downpour began. Lightning flashed, causing him to lose his sight for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, he could see the one thing that he so badly wished wasn't real. He could see the silhouettes of trees all around him. A bolt of lightening flashed once more, confirming his fear.

This was the forest.

It was happening _again_! He was back in this place! Back in this awful, terrible place, just like the second, the third, and the _fourth _time...

Panic erupted from his already cracking nerves. He didn't want this to happen again! He didn't want Courage to-

His head shot up, having momentarily forgotten about his friend. Courage was indeed still standing there, still growling and still very much angry. He looked just like he had the first time this had happened. It was all about to play out the same way again. He had angered his friend and now he was going to pay dearly for it.

The dog took a step forward and he in turn took a stumbling step back. He was shaking from both the cold and his growing anticipation. He really hated seeing Courage like this. The dog was far too kind to need a reason to hold an expression like that. Why did this always have to happen?

He continued to back away until he hit a tree trunk. Trembling, he tried to give the dog a smile. "Look, I know I'm not a very good friend, b-but I have been trying to improve! Whatever I might have said or done to make you this angry, I'm very sorry for it. I've been trying to do better for your sake, but it obviously hasn't been enough. How about we strike a deal? I'll leave you alone all day tomorrow, if you really want, and if we happen to run into each other, I promise I won't speak a single word1 I-It'll be like you pressed the mute button! If that's what it takes to make you happy with me again, I'll do whatever needs to be done. Surely we can find a way to work this out? I-It doesn't need to be like this!"

Courage ignored his near incoherent rambling and continued to walk forward at an agonizingly slow pace. He was mere moments away from...

"Courage," He begged, nervously rubbing his paws together. "Please don't do this to me again. I'll do whatever you want, a-absolutely anything!"

Nothing. His pleas were falling upon deaf ears.

"C-Courage, p-please. I'm sorry! I'm really, _really_ sorry! Y-you're right, I-I only ever think about myself. I never put you or Nina first. I'm not really your friend, not when I always treat you so badly. I can't blame you for getting fed up, just...j-just please don't-" He was cut off by a fist connecting with his jaw.

Sheer, mortal panic overwrote any semi-balance of calm that he might have had left. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. A low buzzing killed every other noise around him, except for his own panicked breathing. Not even the rumbles of thunder could be heard overhead.

He ran.

It didn't matter where he went, just so long as he escaped. He toppled over roots, rocks, and everything else, but he did not stop. There had to be a place he could hide, a place he could escape to. Courage would easily be able to see his glow in this darkness, but there had to be a way he could conceal himself. If he could just find a cave or-

His foot caught on a root and he was flung forward. He hit the cold, wet undergrowth, which at the very least, thankfully, padded his fall. For a moment he was too afraid to open his eyes. How closely was Courage following him? What if he had already caught up?

Something strange hit him then. He couldn't feel the rain anymore. He was still sopping wet and his fur was practically weighing him down like iron, but the rain had indeed stopped. The cold, bitter wind wasn't whipping around him anymore either. In fact, he almost felt like he were warming up again.

He slowly opened his eyes, curious to figure out what was going on, and was surprised to find a carpet beneath him instead of the forest floor. A quick look around and he immediately knew that he was back in the hotel building.

"H-How did I-" He stammered out. "When did I-"

He got back up onto his feet, thoroughly confused by the change in scenery. He continued to glance around the hallway, trying to find something unusual that might explain what had just happened to him.

"Where did it all go? A-am I safe now?" He asked, taking several dismayed steps backwards. "I'm still soaking wet, but..." Wait, no. He wasn't wet anymore either! When did that happen? Surely he had been soaked to the bone not even ten seconds ago!

"What's going on here?" He quietly asked himself. "Was that really all just in my head? I-It couldn't have been!"

He continued to step backwards, completely lost in his own confusion. He felt his back touch something and he jumped with surprise. Whipping around as fast as his feet would take him, he was relieved to find that it was only Nina that he had bumped into.

"Oh, Nina!" He exclaimed, clutching his chest and letting out a sigh of relief. "Am I ever glad to see you! I'm not quite sure how I got here, but I'm still-" His voice slowly came to a halt. "Wait, d-did I wake you up? No, that can't be. I-I wasn't-" He backed away from her, his ears drooping as he gazed up at her less than enthusiastic expression.

The ferret girl crossed her arms. "I warned you. I told you what would happen if you woke me up again! I've even heard from Courage that you've been keeping him up all night too! Who do you think you are?"

"I-I..." He stammered out, trying to form some kind of cohesive sentence. "I'm...I'm s-sor-"

"Apologizing doesn't do you any good when you never bother fixing what you're doing wrong in the first place!" She yelled, stomping towards him.

"Nina, wait! I-" He shrunk back even further.

She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him upwards. He didn't fight or struggle. He just wanted it to be over with.

"You brought this on yourself!" She snapped. They were heading downstairs, to the lobby no doubt...

"I've given you so many chances now!" She went on. "I stood up for you when Courage was acting badly and this is how you repay me?"

He didn't bother trying to answer. He knew that it was a worthless endeavor. Nina had made up her mind about him.

The ferret girl passed nimbly through the kitchen and into the lobby. Her dad was still nowhere to be found, but it didn't appear to bother her very much. The windows were still covered in black and Computer knew now without a doubt that it wasn't a normal night out there. He'd soon have to face it, alone, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

He thought of his ability as they neared the door. How easy it would be to force Nina to let him stay if he threatened her with the full extent of his power. She'd have no choice but to listen to him if she was suddenly facing all the cars in the parking lot, ready to run her over at a moments notice. But no, he would never, ever do that. He didn't want to hurt his friends, even now. They were still too important to him, even if they didn't feel the same way in return.

"Get out!" Nina screamed, wrenching the door open and throwing him out into the darkness.

He immediately stood back up and turned towards her. The only light piercing the blackness all around him was the one shining in through the open door and windows. The ferret girl continued to stand there, glaring down at him.

"I'm warning you!" She growled. "Don't you dare try anything stupid! You're not welcome here anymore!" She then slammed the door and walked away.

Computer could see her through the glass, as that was what most of the door was made of, and he felt his heart plummet as she quickly turned towards the kitchen and was gone. He remained standing where he was, where the light was. It was the only thing fighting off the endless void behind him.

"Nina, I-" He choked out, still too stunned to really process what had just happened.

Would Courage notice? Would he even _care_ that he was gone? Would he simply just agree with Nina's decision and leave it at that? Courage was always so nice and yet he'd really been pushing it with the dog lately. Their friendship was flimsy at best, and if he'd finally hit a breaking point...

Dismayed, Computer turned towards the darkness. It was a terrible decision to make. The first thing that he noticed was that the ground beneath him wasn't concrete like it was supposed to be. The next was that there weren't any parking lot lights on anymore, and the last thing of all was that he could no longer feel the building on the other side. It was completely gone, having apparently been swallowed by the abyss.

...No, not an abyss.

If he stared hard enough into the dark, he could just barely make out the silhouettes of trees...

This was the forest! He was _still _in the forest! Somehow, someway, he was still in the forest and the building had become apart of it!

He turned back towards the door. Panic rising once more, he pounded his fists into the glass. "Nina!" He cried out. "Let me in! Don't leave me out here in this place! _Anywhere_ but here! PLEASE!"

The door was locked. He hadn't seen her lock it and yet the door was still locked. He fumbled around in the dark, looking for a rock or something else that he could use to break the glass with. He didn't care if she would be angry, just so long as he wasn't trapped outside in this nightmare of a place. She could throw him out anywhere else that she liked, but not here.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. There was nothing. He couldn't get the door open. Even with his power, he had nothing to work with. Force wasn't going to help him here.

He moved past the light and into the black, keeping a paw on the building wall to insure that he didn't get lost. Even his own glow was being swallowed up by the dark, leaving him as blind as if he had no light at all.

He needed to find a window, one that wasn't near the lobby. He'd break his way back in and hide until morning. He would comply with Nina's wishes, but not in the dark and not in a place like this. Perhaps if he remained undetected, she'd never even know that he had hid overnight to begin with.

Upon reaching the back of the building, he nearly smacked muzzle first into a trashcan. Yes, this was what he needed! He squinted up at the wall until he could just make out the frame of a window. He pushed the trashcan up against the building and then climbed up. Just as he was reaching for the window, a voice rang out through the darkness.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

He was so startled that he stumbled off the already shaky trashcan lid and knocked over another as he went down. The clattering was so loud that it could have easily woken up half of Nowhere.

Rubbing his aching back, he sat up. Nina was once again looming over him. Unlike everything else around them, she was still being illuminated by his glow. The light made her an utterly frightful sight to behold.

"Were you trying to sneak back in?" She asked in a deathly quiet voice.

"O-of course!" He challenged. A sliver of courage had returned to him in the face of such a hopeless situation. Nina was going to be mad at him no matter what he said. "How can you think that it's okay to leave me out here in a place like this?"

"You're the one who brought it on yourself!"

She reached down to grab him. He scrambled out of the way just in time. Sadly, he hadn't even gotten three steps away before he collided with something else.

Wincing, he opened his eyes. "Courage?" He gasped.

He was nearly nose to nose with the dog. Courage forcefully pushed him away, causing him to almost stumble over once again.

But, but _how_? The dog wasn't well enough to walk!

"Courage and I had a bit of a talk..." Nina went on.

He didn't want to hear the rest. He already knew what they were going to say. He gave one last pleading glance towards Courage, but it was obvious that the dog had no sympathy for him. Nina reached down to try and catch him one last time, but he was ready for it and ran.

Deeper into the black he went, with no vision to guide him. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to get away. Courage and Nina's furious cries could be heard not far behind him. He was just so tired and yet that all-consuming fear of what was about to happen kept him running.

The trees were getting thicker the farther in he went. He'd gone from weaving between them to having to squeeze through particularly dense growths. Thorn covered branches cut into him, but he barely even noticed. His mind was focused on one single thought and nothing else concerned him.

Nina and Courage's voice still weren't getting any farther away. They were somehow keeping up with him despite the growth that should have slowed them down just as much as it was for him. It seemed like the trees weren't even there for them.

"No, no, no." He whimpered, trying to squeeze through two trees that were so close together that not even a child would have been able to make it across. He got stuck halfway and was now hanging there with no means to push himself out. Regardless of how much flailing he did, he was stuck tight.

Courage and Nina were getting closer...

Fear rising up inside of him, he somehow found the means to squeeze through in his blind panic. He land head first on the soft, mushy undergrowth. Still terrified out of his wits, he crawled forward on all fours, breathing heavily. Nothing seemed to process in his mind except for his growing terror. His friends were getting so close and yet he was getting so...

Fighting back his exhaustion, he got up onto his feet one more. He continued running, despite himself. Just like last time, there seemed to be no end to the forest. There was no escape from 'Him' and there was no escape from his friends. He'd have to give up eventually, but he wasn't ready to do that yet. He didn't want to be hurt again, even if it _was _inevitable.

Suddenly, without warning, the ground was gone. Apparently he'd gone and run right off a cliff without realizing it. He remained suspended in midair for several seconds, just long to have the realization hit him in full force, and then he fell. It seemed like it went on forever. He fell and fell. Then he hit the side of the hill, nearly blacking out in the process, and tumbled uncontrollably down the rest.

Just when it seemed like he'd roll forever, he slowly came to a stop. The wind having been thoroughly knocked out of him, he didn't bother trying to move. He could feel his nose bleeding. It was dripping down his muzzle and nearly into his eyes. He raised a paw to try and quell the stream of hot liquid but the gash was surprisingly big.

Coughing, he slowly rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself up. Everything ached but at least he hadn't broken anything. If he couldn't run anymore, he may as well have considered himself as good as dead.

He glanced over at where he supposed the hill was supposed to be. Surely Courage and Nina wouldn't follow him all the way down here? Their voices had gone silent, so perhaps they really had given up. Maybe they would assume that the fall was steep enough to have killed him, and maybe then...

To his left, something began shuffling around in the undergrowth. He stood there, too paralyzed to move, and waited for whatever it was to either go away or reveal itself. So long as he glowed in the dark, _everything _could see him in this terrible abyss with ease.

"Computer?" He heard Courage say from within the black.

Oh, god! He had found him already!

"No, no, no!" He cried out, toppling backwards.

It hurt to move but he was still functional enough to run. Nothing else mattered, he had to get away. He slid over the mud that had padded his fall but he was soon back into the forest proper with all the annoyance that came with it. If he wasn't running into trees, he was tripping over rocks. If he wasn't tripping over rocks, he was tripping over roots. When he wasn't stumbling everywhere, he was getting whipped by the branches instead.

A flash of lightening lit up the sky and a rumble of thunder followed that shook the trees all around him. The wind grew into a horrible gale and a few droplets of water quickly became a massive downpour. Freezing, it was all freezing.

He continued his escape until his legs would carry him no longer. Every once in awhile he'd hear Courage call out to him. It was over. He didn't want to stop, but he just couldn't keep going. This dog body had taken all the beating that it could stand.

He grabbed a tree trunk for balance and stood there gasping for air. It took ever last fiber of strength he had not to collapse on the spot.

"Computer!"

He shivered.

Enough fear returned to him to force his body to keep moving. He didn't want to be hurt again. He knew what would happen if Courage found him and he didn't want to go through it again. All he could do was walk forward at an agonizingly slow pace. If he could just...if he could just...

Then it hit him. What _was _he doing? He had nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to stay. What was he really planning on doing? Living like a stray on the streets of Nowhere until his system finally gave out a few weeks later? It was simple enough, he belonged with Courage and Nina. He had nobody else.

Clutching his chest, he turned towards where Courage's voice was coming from. "T-they're all I've got." He weakly tried to convinced himself. "Even if they hate me, they're all I've got."

He took a step forward.

Besides, what were a few punches compared to the years of verbal abuse he had heaped upon poor Courage? He was only getting what he deserved after all. It was an amazement that his friends had put up with him for as long as they did.

Calm washed over him. He had gone completely numb, inside and out. There was no fear, no pain, no sadness anymore. He didn't have to feel bad about what was happening to him when it was clear that he deserved it. He was the one who was wrong. They were both so nice while he was the one who was awful, spiteful and cruel. To think, he had been punished so severely, to the point of where it had almost destroyed him, all for letting his old owner die. Now he was simply being punished for the way he had always treated Courage, for being so terrible to someone who was always so kind in return. It was his fault that his friends were so angry. He only had himself to blame.

Courage's footsteps were getting closer.

So, this was it. He'd finally done it. He had finally killed off all those terrible flesh creature emotions that had been plaguing him for such a long time. He felt hollow. There was nothing left inside of him except for a grim acceptance. Freedom had finally been granted upon admitting to his vile nature. He was never going to be a better person because there was never a better person in there for him to become. Courage and Nina should have never been forced to put up with him, none of his owners should have.

Courage came bursting in through the undergrowth. Their eyes met for what felt like forever.

"Sorry, Courage."

One emotion remained it seemed.

The dog drew back his lips in a snarl. It was like Courage had been replaced by a feral monster. He lunged forward and tackled Computer to the ground. His paws were instantly around his neck.

It didn't hurt. It didn't feel bad at all. To him, it was a relief. Everything was over with. He was done. He was free. If Courage didn't want him anymore, then he had no purpose left.

Finally, _finally _he was...Courage sprung up from under his covers, a strangled cry caught in his throat. He gripped at his neck, trying to pull the invisible hands away. He couldn't breathe! _He couldn't breathe_!

Toppling out of the bed, he hit the floor with a loud thud. He was hopelessly disoriented and a vicious, screaming headache was burning through his brain like a molten hot knife. For several long minutes, he could not figure out if he really was Courage or if he were actually Computer. For the entirety of that horrific nightmare, they had been one in the same, and even now in his disorientation, he couldn't figure it out.

He stood up and hobbled over to the door. The world swayed as he moved.

_'I'm Courage! I'm Courage!'_ He repeated over and over again in his mind. He was finally starting to piece himself back together again. Unfortunately, now that he were 'sane' once more, the true horror of what he had just witnessed was starting to take hold.

"Oh my god!" He exclaimed. "He thinks..._oh my god_!"

He picked up his pace to get over to the door. How he hated his illness! He could be halfway across the building by now if he just weren't feeling so weak!

It took several tries for him to grab the door handle. He wrenched it open...and proceeded to trip over something blocking his way. He was still so disoriented that he hadn't even noticed the glow all around him or that there had been something in front of his feet to begin with.

"C-Computer?" He groaned, rubbing his muzzle.

The machine shot up from the curled up position he had been in. His eyes darting around the hallway as though he were looking for something. He immediately grabbed his nose and winced. Courage figured that he must have accidentally stepped on it...

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?" He gently asked his glowing friend.

"Sorry, Courage." He muttered, shrinking back. "I-I know you said that you wanted some time to yourself, but I figured that I should stay close just in case your condition worsened. You aren't well yet and..." He shrunk back even further. "But I'll go now. You want your space and I'm more than happy to give it to you."

"Wait!" He cried out. "I don't want you going anywhere! Stay right here! Don't move an inch!"

The machine nervously laughed. "No, no! It's fine! I don't want to be a bother after all!" Still gripping his nose, the glowing dog stood up.

Courage lunged forward in a moment of desperation and grabbed him by the arm.

"Listen to me!" He cried out. "You are not a bother! You're never, _ever_ a bother! I'm always happy to have you around! Always!"

Computer stared. His expression was filled utterly with dismay. He pulled his arm free and turned to leave despite Courage's pleas.

"Compute, wait! Don't go! I need to talk to you! Please, don't leave! Computer!"

He would have given absolutely anything in the world to go after him at that very moment. He feebly tried to catch up, but it was hopeless. He knew that if he tried too hard, he'd just exhaust himself to the point of where he wouldn't be able to move at all anymore.

"Computer!" He called out one last time as his friend turned towards the stairs.

Tears began to obscure his vision as he begged him to come back. After what he had just seen, after what he had just _been through_, it was almost too much to bear. He could still see his own snarling face clear in his mind.

Well, he had wanted to know what was troubling Computer so much, and now he had found out in the most horrifying way possible...

"I-is this the kind of thing that he dreams about _all _the time?" He whimpered. "Oh, Compute..."

End Of Chapter


	120. In The Face Of Reality

Chapter 120: In The Face Of Reality

No, no, no! This couldn't be happening!

Computer stumbled into the bathroom. He scanned the tiny room for something that might be out of the ordinary but couldn't find anything. His nightmares as of late had been getting harder and harder to separate from reality. This would not be the first time he would have seemingly woken up only to find out later that he were actually still sleeping.

Heart pounding, he climbed up onto the toilet seat and from there, onto the sink counter. He gazed into the mirror and was shocked to see just how..._unwell _he looked. Deep shadows had formed under his eyes and there was simply no masking the fear in his expression. But none of that mattered, that was not why he was here. He removed his paw from his nose and once again found the thing that he so badly wished wasn't there. The cut running down his nose hadn't gone away. Despite waking up, it was still there!

"I have to be asleep!" He told himself resolutely into the mirror. "There's no other explanation! I _must _still be asleep!"

He let out a weak groan and clutched his head. A terrible headache had been plaguing him ever since he'd 'woken up'. It was bad enough that he were still stuck in a nightmare, but now he had to feel like his head was splitting in half too?

"What am I going to do?" He weakly asked himself. "Something bad is going to happen. Something bad _always _happens."

But Courage...

The dog had seemed so concerned. It wasn't like the way he normally acted in these nightmares.

"No, no. He was just trying to get me to let my guard down, I'm sure of it." He chided his reflection. "If I had stuck around too long, I'm sure he would have found a reason to get angry with me." His ears drooped. "I don't want to trouble him either way. He deserves better."

The door to the bathroom suddenly swung open. Scared nearly half out of his wits, he jumped, slipped, and landed head first on the toilet seat. Thank goodness he had made sure to close the lid before climbing up or else this would have ended up as a much messier situation...

As if he needed even more of a headache! Clutching his head, he stood back up and 'dusted' himself off.

"Seriously, Compute?" He heard Nina ask. "I swear, you are the biggest klutz around sometimes."

His insides froze solid. It was about to happen. This was where the nightmare would really kick off...

"What happened to you watching Courage, hmm?" She asked, walking over to the toilet seat where he stood.

"He, uh, kicked m-me out." He quickly answered, desperately trying to keep it together. He was already planning out an escape route for when things inevitably went south. If he could just get past Nina, then he'd be in the clear...

_'Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic.' _He repeated over and over again in his mind. That mantra was the only thing keeping him from bolting right then and there. He needed to plan this out properly first. Just running off like a half-crazed animal was only going to get him trapped in the ferret girl's clutches even sooner.

"Ha! That's a lie if I ever heard one!" She laughed. "You really _are _trying to get out of having to watch him, aren't you?"

"N-no." He replied, shaking his head. "He really did. I-I just-"

Nina raised an eyebrow. It appeared that she was finally catching on to his unusually meek demeanor.

"Listen, Nina. I really need to-" His thinly veiled excuse to make an escape was cut short. The ferret girl reached down to pick him up and he in turn tensed up with realization of what was coming. He would have ran, but there wasn't any room for him to do so. He could have tried diving into the bathtub on his left, but it would have been just as difficult to maneuver around Nina from there as well.

He kept his eyes squeezed shut as she placed her paws on his torso and lifted him up. He remained tense, fully expecting to be slammed into the wall or loudly threatened like normal. Despite his growing fear, he began internally scolding himself for being so idiotic and pathetic. She had every right to do whatever she wanted to him. He deserved it! He was the awful one! A good person wouldn't have left their sick friend all alone at a time like this!

And just like that, he was no longer afraid. All of his apprehension was gone. Rather than remain tense in Nina's grasp, he fell limp. There was no reason to fight against what he rightfully deserved. He had gone mercifully numb once more. Well, not completely numb. Even now he couldn't escape the gnawing guilt that he felt towards his own rotten nature. He was an unforgivable, vile excuse for a person and that could never, ever be fixed.

….But when he wasn't slammed into the wall, slapped, or threatened to be thrown out, his confusion started to get the better of him. He slowly opened his eyes to find Nina staring at him, just _staring_ at him. She looked concerned., just like the way Courage had too. Maybe this _wasn't _a dream after all? But then how on earth had he gotten...

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

"Yes, everything is fine. Please put me down, Nina."

"Hmm, yep. There's definitely something wrong. If there wasn't, you'd be demanding that I put you down and not asking instead." Her tone was nothing but gentle and despite her joking nature, it was clear that she was worried.

"I just want to be alone for a little while. Can't I get some privacy in a bathroom of all places?"

He flinched as she removed a paw from his torso and brought it up to his face. Despite fully expecting to be harmed, she instead placed a finger onto his chin and forced him to look upwards.

"Where the heck did you get that?" She asked.

It took him a moment to realize that she must have been talking about the cut on his nose.

"Didn't you just see me fall?" He answered. Obviously he couldn't tell her where it had really come from.

"The toilet isn't sharp." She joked.

"You'd be surprised."

"Well, we can't exactly put a band-aid on it, can we?" She sighed. "Come on, let's go get you some coffee. It's pretty obvious that you need something to calm your nerves. I don't know why you're being so jumpy all of a sudden, but-" She slowly trailed off.

"N-no, no! It's alright!" He quickly stammered out. "I'd rather just-"

Too late. The ferret girl was already carrying him out of the bathroom and over to the stairs.

"N-Nina, seriously! Put me down!" He yelped.

The lobby was one of the last places he wanted to be right now. What if it were still pitch black outside? What if they were still somehow in the forest? All it would take is one little thing to make Nina angry, and then she'd...

_'...No, no! Don't fight it! You're getting what you deserve!' _He internally scolded himself._ 'Stop being such a wimp! You don't have any right to be afraid of you've always deserved!' _

Finally,the fear melted away again. He didn't protest further as Nina brought him down into the kitchen and then into the lobby. Much to his relief, it was a perfectly normal night outside. The parking lot lights kept everything illuminated and the building on the other side could easily be seen. It hadn't been swallowed by an abyss of doom or lost in a sea of trees.

"Here we go." Nina spoke, setting him down onto a chair. "Now, hold on just a sec."

She went over to table that held the coffee pot and returned with a cup. Computer stared as she set it down in front of him. He almost couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Alright, it's all yours." She announced when he didn't immediately try to pick it up.

"I don't want it." He replied.

"W-wha?" She gasped. Her mouth fell open at his deceleration. "Okay, there's definitely something wrong with you. You never turn down coffee and we both know how much of an addict you are."

"Don't you think that I've had enough?" He asked, gazing up at her. "I always drink so much of it and I've never even paid you once for it."

The ferret girl stared. "I've never _asked _you to pay for it."

He pushed the cup away. "Well, I'm giving it up. I think I've lost my taste for it anyway."

Nina continued to stare down at him, too stunned to speak.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go now." He went on, moving to climb down the chair. Nina, however, stopped him by placing a paw to his chest.

"Seriously, Compute. What's wrong? You really haven't been yourself lately and it just seems to get worse every time I see you."

"Nothing's wrong." He answered yet again.

"Don't lie!" She argued. "Is it something to do with Courage? Because if it is-"

"It's not Courage." He quickly amended her. "Please don't start treating him like he's done something wrong again. He obviously enjoys acting like a pet around you and if you start being cold towards him again, I know that it would really upset him."

Nina placed her paws onto her hips. "I never said that I was going to do anything to Courage, I just thought that this all had something to do with him being sick. You assuming that I was talking about what happened that night your body was walking around on its own only makes me more suspicious about what's going on here."

He shrunk back. "O-oh, I wasn't..."

"Stop trying to beat around the bush and tell me what's going on!"

"There isn't anything wrong!" He cried out. "I just want to be left alone for a little while! Is that really so hard to ask?"

"Fine." Nina relented. "I'll leave you alone for a 'little while', but tomorrow morning, you're going to tell me everything. No more secrets, no more dodging every question that I throw at you. I want answers."

"S-sure! Whatever you want!" He stammered out. Truthfully, he only really wanted to get away and if this allowed him to do so...

"And until then, I'm going to go talk with Courage." She went on. "He understands you a lot better than I do and-"

"No!" He cried out, nearly lunging out of the chair in the process. "Don't bother Courage! Not about me! He'll start to worry a-and-" He rubbed his paws together. "H-he doesn't need something else troubling him. We _both _want him to focus on getting better. I-I swear that there's nothing wrong with me and I-I don't want Courage to-"

Nina crossed her arms. "Alright, alright. I won't make Courage 'worry' about you, but if you had actually bothered to pay attention you'd know by now that he's already _been_ worrying about you."

He meekly sunk back down into the chair. "I'm sorry, Nina. I-I just don't want to be a bother anymore." He gave her a weak smile. "You both must be so sick of me by now. It's no wonder that Courage kicked me out. I don't blame him at all." Letting out a sigh, he hung his head. "I've tried so hard to be a better, nicer person for the both of you, but I just don't have any good inside of me it seems. It's...intolerable."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Nina snapped. "We are not 'sick of you'! Did you already forget about what happened when you almost died? We both thought you were gone for good! Do you have any idea how awful it was? I-I just kept thinking about how much it was like when...when mom died. Courage is always so happy and for him to be all depressed like that was..." Her voice became too strained to continue.

"Sorry, Nina. I never meant to make you both-"

"Listen!" She cried out, pulling him up off the chair so that they were eye to eye. "It doesn't matter if you can't be a 'good person' or a 'good friend'! The point is that you're _trying_!" She gave him a hard shake. "Yes, you are absolutely unbearable most of the time, but I'm still happy to have a weird, robot dog around! You're _fun _to be with even when you _are_ being a grump! I used to never have any friends before you and Courage came along and I can't be even more happy that I stumbled upon you in the trash! I'm only hoping that we can still be friends after you've saved Courage's life! I'm not even slightly sick of you!"

"But, Nina, I'm..." He choked out, unable to put any of his thoughts together. "Courage doesn't..."

She shook him once more. "Courage loves you, you stupid, idiot! We both do! Stop acting like we want you gone!"

Before Computer even knew what was going on, the ferret girl had almost smothered him in a hug. "You've been through some seriously awful stuff, I know that now, and I know that it messed you up pretty badly too, but please stop acting like you're a hopelessly bad person because of it."

He tried to pull himself away from her. "P-please, Nina. Put me down. I-I just need t-to-"

She only needed to get one look at his face to understand why he still wanted to get away so badly. She let him drop to the floor and he immediately made a beeline for the kitchen.

"I'm here for you, Compute." She called out to him. "Don't hesitate to come back if you need to talk."

He nearly collapsed on the spot the moment he made it over to the stairs. So many different emotions were all twisted up inside of him and he couldn't sort out even one of them. He felt like he were about to crash from the near overload. That stupid crying thing was happening again. Try as he might, he couldn't get the torrent of water to stop leaking from his eyes.

He'd been so certain that everything was about to come crashing down on him again. Just like it always did whenever he slept, but it _hadn't_! He couldn't have ever expected this! He assumed that he was going to be yelled at, harmed, and eventually thrown out again, but not anything like this! How could Nina say such kind things about him when he was always so...

He crawled up the steps, barely even finding the motivation to keep his organic creature body moving. Everything was disconnected. He no longer felt like he _were_ the dog, but just an occupant. After spending so much time in it, he'd come to feel like he really was one with the body, but not anymore.

As soon as he hit the top step, he turned towards Nina's room. He knew where he needed to go, knew where he could truly be safe for a little while. The lights were off when he clamored into the ferret girl's room but he flicked them on with a single 'thought'. His body remained lying on the floor, exactly where it had originally been left.

He immediately began grabbing wires to plug them in. It was difficult to do behind the veil of watery tears that were intent on keeping his vision blurry, but several attempts later and he finally had power flowing into his real body.

He grabbed a claw and plugged it into his back without a single second though.

He was going home...

End Of Chapter


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